The future kindergarteners walked independently to the classroom for screening, while the parents got a tour of the school and some words of advice from the principal and counselor. Now let me remind you, we have been attending the school for five years; I thought this was going to be a waste of my time. However, it turned out to be very inspiring. During the middle of the tour, we were escorted to the outdoor classroom and learning garden, of which I was introduced as the leading expert – ego boost! The principal explained how we obtained funding, a brief description of where we were in the construction process, and what the final learning garden would look like. It was awesome to see the expression of excitement on the kindergarten parents’ faces; I was not expecting this kind of reaction. Their comments were supportive and affirming of our desire to bring such a classroom to our students.

We are nine weeks into the construction process of the outdoor classroom, and I am a bit exhausted. Being at “Kindergarten Round-Up” gave me the boost of energy (just like fertilizer does to a plant) and focus I needed to finish the job we started.

I entertained a couple of questions from the parents about the raised beds, so I thought I would continue the dialog started on the last blog about them. If you are building a learning garden, the raised garden beds may be the central focus of all your teaching. It is important that you have the right material for your school gardening efforts. Fortunately, our county extension office just renovated their demonstration garden, and I can show you some examples that can be used at school or at home.

Learning Garden 1: Made with red cedar with decorative metal corner brackets. Expensive but long lasting.

Learning Garden 2: Made from a “garden in a box” which you can purchase from garden magazines and garden stores.

Behind the “garden in a box” is the bed made with treated lumber. Somehow, I missed getting a picture of it (I’m going to blame it on my hot, tired, whiney kids).

Learning Garden 3: Made with landscape pavers. Landscape adhesive was used to glue the pavers together.

Learning Garden 4: Made with landscape timbers. Probably the most inexpensive way to building a raised bed unless the materials are donated for free.

Learning Garden 5: Made with plastic lumber (Azek decking). Also expensive, but long lasting.

The triangle shaped bed in the right corner of the pictures is made from the treated lumber.

I hope these pictures will give you the boost, as the future kindergarten parents gave me, to keep digging in and working on your learning garden.

Read more about this topic in our Learning Garden blog series:

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

The experience of a hands-on experience with food is just one reason we are building an outdoor classroom and learning garden at our school. It will provide an opportunity for students to get a break from the concrete, hand sanitizing culture into a natural environment to experience nature as a primary tool for learning.

The outdoor classroom and learning garden that we are currently building contains many elements, including fruit trees that teachers can use to teach core subjects through hands-on lessons. The feature element is the raised garden beds. Kids are tough on things; I would know- I have three who vandalize my house everyday (sigh). Durability and safety should be your number one concern when choosing building materials for a learning garden. Whether it is the benches, greenhouse, garden shed, raised bed, or compost bin, use materials that will last and can withstand years of intense use. That also includes the garden tools. There are a lot of cheap flimsy garden tools; resist the urge to go cheap and buy the ones that will last through the abuse of junior gardeners.

This last week, three volunteers constructed our four raised garden beds with untreated cedar lumber. Three of the beds are 6 x 20 and the other is 4 x 20. The two-foot deep beds will eventually be filled with a combination of topsoil and compost. The soil is the main ingredient to our garden’s success as it holds all of the nutrients our vegetables will need to grow.  Volunteers put a layer of small gravel under the beds. This was done to help level the area and for drainage. I would encourage anyone planning a garden to put special thought into drainage. Gardens are watered every day, and if the water cannot flow out and away from the garden beds, it will continually be wet and messy, which would not be a favorable combination for groups of children to track back into the school building. Also, most garden vegetables prefer a well-drained soil. Soil saturated with water deprives the roots of oxygen.

We do not want to deprive our plants of oxygen just as we do not want to deprive our youth the opportunity to learn from nature. The educational and environmental impact of an outdoor classroom and learning garden is not easily measured, but it certainly can be measured by a smile when they bite into a freshly picked apple.

Read more about this topic in our Learning Garden blog series:

Learning Garden 7:  Raised Beds

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

Since our oldest started Kindergarten five years ago, I have consistently volunteered at the school with many other moms. On occasion, I have witnessed a dad volunteering at the school, but rarely!  Adding an outdoor classroom and learning garden to the school has given dads the opportunity to get involved in their child’s education. I think it is so valuable for our children to see us helping others! Fathers at school are just one more added benefit to a learning garden.

When working with volunteers, we must realize that their time is valuable too. It’s not good to have volunteers standing around with their hands in their pockets, waiting for something to do. Sometimes we only need two workers and other times we need ten, so we plan accordingly.  When volunteers feel like they contributed and were appreciated, they will come back to help next time.

It is also necessary to match volunteers to the need. Right now, we are preparing for our annual plant sale and building the pergola. This provides a need for volunteers with different skill sets.  Thankfully, we have a long list of volunteers all with different talents to assist; lifting 300-pound cedar posts or counting the number of petunias that were pre-ordered (or babysitters for my little ones so that I can volunteer too).

Our construction volunteers have had to be flexible and wear muddy boots due to our spring weather pattern. It has rained every Friday, making a muddy mess and we’ve endured a few tornado warnings; yikes!

Our list of volunteers comes from a very active PTO. When we have a volunteer need, we send an e-mail and pray for a response. Usually, we get a great response, but there has been a time or two where I had to beg…I could not eat this elephant by myself! We need volunteers!

Read more about this topic in our Learning Garden blog series:

Learning Garden 7:  Raised Beds

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

To prevent this from happening at our school, we went beyond the opinion of our committee members and surveyed our teachers and staff on the components they wanted to add to the outdoor classroom and learning garden. It is important to make this their space with elements that will help them meet educational goals required by the state, not just a “pretty space.” The response from the survey was fantastic. I am continually amazed at the creativity and resourcefulness of our teachers.

 OUTDOOR CLASSROOM WISH LIST

1. Stump gathering circle
2. Bat house
3. Compost bin
4. Worm bin
5. Rain bin
6. Shed
7. Hot bed-cold frame
8. Sprinkler system
9. Bean tunnel
10. Sidewalks
11. Raised beds
12. Handicapped raised bed
13. Butterfly garden
14. Shrub borders
15. Native grasses and perennials
16. Mums
17. Bird houses
18. Squirrel feeder
19. Sunflower bed
20. Wind mill
21. Fencing
22. Pumpkin and gourd patch
23. Fruit trees
24. Strawberry hill
25. Herbs
26. Wildlife habitat
27. Places for kids to sit and listen
28. Place for demonstrations
29. Shade

The committee created the basic design of the outdoor classroom including the elements listed on the teacher wish list, but we needed a professional to take our plan to the next level. The PTO put forth the money so that we could hire a landscape architect to take this wish list and make it a reality. Having a professional involved from the beginning has been the best thing we could have done. The architect was able to offer insight and experience that made our plan even better and more functional. We made special effort in making this area accessible to the handicapped, as well as assuring the outdoor classroom would be sustainable for years to come.

I also sought the advice of two horticulture agents from the Extension Education Services who offered some very practical advice on the design as well as plant species suggestions. The agents answered some questions we had about the soil around the school. Knowing that soil was the main ingredient to our gardening success, we talked about how to improve the soil’s fertility with organic matter and fertilizer.

The initial drawing was tweaked and improved until we had a plan that was satisfactory for everyone. We have interest and investment from our teachers, and I am confident we will have more than one teacher utilizing this space for hands-on learning!

With vegetable gardens, sunflower beds, and gourd patches our students will literally see and taste the fruit of their labor and the rewards of hard work and patience. The bean tunnels and worm bins will demonstrate the fun nature has to offer. We envision students reading under the shade of a tree, gathering leaves for an art project, sitting with paper and pencil calculating garden related math problems, quietly journaling their observations of squirrels and birds, and of course with dirty hands, experiencing the real science they only now can read about at a desk.

Now as I drive passed the school with the un-used outdoor classroom, I’m not envious anymore. But I do hope those teachers are inspired by the daily use and success of our outdoor classroom and learning garden.

Read more about this topic in our Learning Garden blog series:

Learning Garden 7:  Raised Beds

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

Learning Garden 7:  Raised Beds

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

Gardening makes me happy, especially when I am gardening with my three girls, as seen in the picture below. The benefits of a garden are undeniable.  As we work with the soil to grow our vegetables, we learn about soil fertility (science). When we plant the seed, we read the label directions on the seed packet (English) and learn the depth at which we need to plant the seed (math). We look at the sun that provides the heat to warm the soil and we add water that provides the moisture for the seed to germinate (botany). Then we wait (delayed gratification) for the seed to root and pull up nutrients from the soil (science) and grow into a plant that produces a vegetable (food production). We grab our harvest basket and collect the vegetables that we have grown (teamwork). We sit down at the table (sense of belonging) to enjoy a meal (nutrition) grown from our hard work and care (nurturing). I am excited that our schoolchildren have the opportunity to learn these subjects, skills, and attributes from our new learning garden.

University research supports school learning gardens and our desire to bring students out of the traditional classroom and into a natural environment, but you don’t necessarily need a research study to tell you that. Just spend about twenty minutes in a garden with a curious second grader (or a whole classroom of second graders, if you are brave)! When planning our outdoor classroom, we knew that a learning garden would benefit our students. However, in order to get funding and approval we had to validate its benefits. Our teachers, staff, school board, and parents needed to know that building a learning garden was a worthy effort that would enhance and improve the overall education of our students.

There is a select group of universities who has contributed their time to analyzing and interpreting the effects of learning gardens. Research that I most frequently site was compiled by Cornell University. They summarize research findings in six benefit areas of garden-based learning.

1. Nutrition Awareness
2. Environmental Awareness
3. Learning Achievements
4. Life Skills
5. Health and Wellness
6. Community Building and Social Connections

To get more details, visit the Cornell University page at Cornell Garden Based Learning. Reading through the benefits listed on Cornell’s site just reiterates my enthusiasm and passion for learning gardens. Who wouldn’t want an educational tool that gets kids to eat fruits and vegetables, improve science scores, enhances moral education, increases appreciation for how food is grown and produced, and develop patience, teamwork and more? As I said, the benefits are undeniable! I love gardening with my three girls in our backyard, and I am excited to see our students’ garden in the school’s backyard!

After a week of rain, progress on Benton’s Backyard outdoor classroom and learning garden can be seen. Sunburnt and covered in dirt, a few hard working dads framed up the sidewalks, shed floor, pergola floor and mow strips in preparation for concrete to be poured. Our students returned from spring break to witness all of the changes.

Progress on this type of project does not happen unless you have a network of dedicated staff members and volunteers. When we originally set out on this journey, we began talking about long-term sustainability. Repeatedly, we have heard stories of neglected school that become dismantled because of staff changes, building additions and financial constraints. We do not want this to happen to our plod of earth! Long-term sustainability is a conversation we continually have.

An early goal, set by our committee, was to build this classroom right the first time. We addressed these three potential deal breakers.

Staff Changes:  In gardening, we know that soil is the main ingredient. A garden containing only clay is not going to produce a crop. Soil made up of sand, silt and clay is the best combination for growing a healthy productive garden. That’s what we needed at Benton, a combination of teachers, staff, and parents; all with different talents and interest in Benton’s Backyard. If one person moves out of district, there remains a team of invested committee members carrying the mission of Benton’s Backyard forward.

Building Additions and Construction: Years ago, our school had an outdoor wildlife learning site. Gradually, our enrollment increased and we had to construct additional classrooms to accommodate students. The outdoor wildlife-learning site, built with grant money and hours of teacher, student, and volunteer time, was dismantled and the district built a bigger school. It was heartbreaking and such a waste. At school garden conferences, I have heard from numerous school gardeners who share the same sad tale. To prevent this from happening again we set out to make Benton’s Backyard a permanent addition to the school, where a trip to the backyard is a daily classroom experience and not an extra-curricular activity for our students.

We spent extra time and money planning an elaborate outdoor classroom and learning garden that goes beyond a couple of raised beds and a bird bath (nothing against a couple of raised beds and bird bath, we just wanted more). Furthermore, we wanted a structure one would see as permanent and not temporary. We identified four possible locations for an outdoor classroom and brought district personnel, including the school superintendent and the ground maintenance superintendent into the conversation. The two questions we asked, “If you were to build an addition on to the school, where would you put it?”  and “Do you foresee any changes in the school that would disturb or affect this spot?”

It was also critical for us to determine if there was enough light to have a garden (6-8 hours), where the water and electricity would come from and other obstacles that might have caused a problem (I am referring to two very large electrical boxes that could NOT be moved). After multiple meetings, we were able to move forward with confidence knowing we had chosen the best location for now and for the future.

Financial Constraints: “If money grew on hackberry trees, that would be all right,” with Alan Jackson and me. A Nutrients for Life learning garden survey revealed that the number one obstacle facing the installation and success of school learning gardens is money.

As we are all aware, school budgets are tight. Simply stated, we were not going to get money from the school. You have to look for money elsewhere. We created our budget and set a financial goal. We needed to raise $44,000 (I know, that’s crazy!). Well, we were optimistically confident (and maybe a little naive on how much work it would take)!

For capital, we decided the best way to raise money was by writing grants. We scoured the web for community, state, and national grants related to wildlife habitat, school gardens, school nutrition, childhood diabetes, recycling, agriculture awareness, environmental awareness, fruit trees, rural development, etc. We shared our vision with as many people as possible and followed every lead and open door presented to us. This was by far the hardest part of the entire process. We had to be persistent and not let the no-s and rejections get us down.  In our case, most of the grants were written by parent volunteers with support and input from teachers (consider yourself lucky if you have someone on staff who is paid to write grants). We wrote grant, after grant, after grant. Whether it was $100 or $10,000, we were grateful and celebrated every grant we were awarded!

A spring plant sale was added to our fundraising efforts. The plant sale was a huge success and we now plan to offer the plant sale as an annual event. Monies raised will provide for long-term sustainability of Benton’s Backyard, as we will be able to make repairs, improvements, purchase additional supplies, provide teacher training, and new curriculum.

To this point, we have avoided any deal breakers and continually plan and make decisions based on long-term sustainability. I have to give credit to our committee that is not afraid to roll up their sleeves, put on our garden gloves and dig in with dedication, persistence, creativity, and teamwork.

Read more about this topic in our Learning Garden blog series:

Learning Garden 7:  Raised Beds

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

Learning Garden 7:  Raised Beds

Learning Garden 6: Building

Learning Garden 5:  Volunteers

Learning Garden 4:  Designing the Garden

Learning Garden 3: Validation

Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability

Learning Garden 1: Overview

Back in September of 2010, I started a new journey with my local elementary school, and now I would like you to join me on this journey, as I create a series of blogs that describes how a school and its community built an outdoor classroom and learning garden in 2012.  During this journey, we will discuss the role of soil in a learning garden- how to maintain the soil in the garden and essential learning activities educators can do with their classes on soil science.  In addition, our soil science curriculum, Nourishing the Planet in the 21^st Century, is available online for free; all three levels of our curricula have been favorable reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution and written in conjunction with the BSCS.  I understand that not every school and community will need or want a garden as large scale as the one I am working on.  But I hope you will follow this series to get inspired and learn some best practices.  There is so much you can teach with soil science in an outdoor setting!

Being the “never say no” mommy, I am on the school PTO. At the September meeting, a teacher requested that the PTO would look into adding some sort of shade structure to the school courtyard. This area had once been a garden but the school had to dismantle it when they had a change in staff and added an addition onto the school.

Over the next month, the PTO looked at different shade options, when an entirely different vision began to develop. What if we transformed this space back into a learning garden? Several teachers and staff members had begun this process before; they had talked about it and even written a few grants. At the October PTO meeting, we decided to pay a landscape company to draw up a plan for the school courtyard. We surveyed the teachers to get an accurate picture of what they wanted in an learning garden and presented these ideas to the architect. I think it is essential to get a nice understanding of what all of the stakeholders in a learning garden would like to see or be able to do.  This was so exciting for me; I was going to have the opportunity to use my education and work experience to benefit an elementary school that we loved. Moreover, the added advantage was that my daughters would have this unique space to enrich their elementary education. From my experience, I know that the inclusion of nature and gardening adds awe and wonder to the school environment.

The landscape plan was presented to the PTO and staff members. There were a few tweaks and alterations. We consulted with our county extension horticulture agent, who helped us choose trees and shrubs that were native and would thrive in our area. We also considered each plant’s blooming time. We want our landscape to be in its most beautiful state when the kids are in school. There are many different things to consider when building an outdoor learning environment for a school, and it is my plan to go into more detail in a later blog.

Along with a landscape plan comes a budget and many questions. How long would it take to raise enough money to install the proposed 10,000 square foot outdoor classroom? Well, that depended upon how hard we wanted to work. Did we want to complete installation in phases? Did we want to scale down the plan? What additional items would we need to purchase? How would we train and empower teachers? Would the district staff and school board support our efforts?

To address these questions, we formed a committee of eager workers, consisting of teachers and parents, who share the vision and a passion for adding an outdoor element to the school. At our first meeting, we decided that we wanted to do this right the first time. We would raise all of the money and then begin construction.  As we considered long-term sustainability, we knew that starting with drainage and irrigation was our first step to doing it right.  We also knew that we would need an annual fundraiser for maintenance and additions to the space.

We removed the plastic cover and moved the new seedlings under fluorescent lights.  To keep the little sprouts from being leggy, we placed the tray about two to three inches below the fluorescent light. If the light is too far away, the seedling stretches toward the light and becomes leggy. Leggy plants have long spindly stems that are weak. If this happens to you, it’s really hard to correct. In my opinion, it’s easier to start over than correct the problem.

A few years ago, I attended at Junior Master Gardener training class led by K-State research and extension specialist, Evelyn Neier. She showed us how to make a simple PVC pipe light stand. It’s a relatively inexpensive way to construct an effective plant stand. I bought all of the supplies for $39.15 and it took me about 20 minutes to cut the PVC and assemble the light stand (that with a toddler sitting on my lap).

Materials Needed:

• 10’ section 1” PVC pipe
• 2 L shaped 1” PVC connectors
• 2 T shaped 1” PVC connectors
• 4 1” PVC end caps
• 2 pieces of chain
• S hooks to attached light fixture to the chains
• 1 standard shop light
• 2 fluorescent lights

Tools:

• Hacksaw
• Measuring tape
• Pencil or marker

Assembly:

1.  Measure and cut pipe into the following lengths:

four 6” long sections

two 24” long sections

one 48” long section

2.  Put caps on one end of each 6” section.

3.  Connect two 6” sections with the T shaped connector. This makes the foot.

4.  Complete the same step on the other two 6” sections. This is the second foot.

5.  Connect the 24” section to the middle hole in the foot you just made.

6.  Complete the same step on the other foot.

7.  Put the L shaped connectors on the top of each 24” sections.

8.  Connect the two legs with the 48” long section.

9.  Adjust feet so they are parallel.

10.  To facilitate moving and storing the light stand, do not glue the connectors.

11.  Hang the light fixture with chains from the 48” crossbar.

12.  Adjust chain length to regulate height of the light fixture.

The completed light stand is light and durable enough for two of my three girls to help move it. We placed the light stand in the basement and set our tray of sprouted seedlings directly under the grow light. We adjusted the light so that it is only two to three inches above the top of the seedlings.

Generally, seedlings need 14 to 16 hours of light, to make enough food to grow healthy stems and leaves. They also need eight hours of rest, without the direct light. As your seedlings grow, be sure to raise the lights up so that they remain two to three inches above the top of the seedlings.

When the seedlings have two to four sets of leaves, it’s time to start feeding them with fertilizer. A weak solution of fertilizer is all that the tender seedlings need. Once a week, I use 1/4 of a teaspoon in one gallon of water. Without fertilizer, your seedlings will not get the adequate nutrients they need to grow into strong healthy plants, ready to be transplanted into your garden.

We check the soil moisture every day. If the soil is dry, we water from the bottom up. That means, we fill the bottom tray with a little bit of water. The water is soaked up like a sponge, and it does not disrupt the top of the soil or seedlings.

I hope that your “starting seed” experience has been successful! Good luck building the PVC pipe light stand. I challenge you to build it with a toddler on your lap, proving once again that gardeners (and Mom’s) can do it all!

I brought the goods home, and my five-year-old ran out to the garage to get her gardening gloves on. “Hold on a minute”- I curbed her enthusiasm and told her I was not ready to begin digging in the garden. I explained that it was still too cold to plant in the garden, but we could give our garden a jump-start by starting some seeds in the house as we did last year. (Last year’s post: Seeds, Seeds, Everywhere.)

If you would like to get a jump-start on your gardening, let me be the one to encourage you to get started. Do not be intimidated by starting seeds early, it is not difficult. I think every elementary kid in the US has planted a bean seed in a Styrofoam cup and sprouted the seed in the windowsill of their classroom. This is an activity that you can do with your kids, grandkids, neighbors, 4-H club, or with a classroom of students. I think there is a lot of bonding when everyone has dirty hands. Just know going into it, clean-up will be necessary.

Start your seeds indoors 4 to 12 weeks before the last spring frost. Read the seed package label for advice on when to start your seedlings indoors. Let me caution you on starting your seeds to early and trying to keep them alive in your house, until they are ready to go into the garden. Often times, they become tall and spindly and will not do well in the garden. Look at the time recommended on the seed package and refer to your garden calendar and start them at the right time.

I took a picture journal of our seed starting adventure. This year we are using trays with planting cells. There are many different ways to start seeds, and I am going to show you a different method than I blogged about last year. You can use any type of container that will hold two to three inches of soil and that will drain. It is easy to add drain holes to containers that don’t have any drainage.

1. We started by taking advantage of a gorgeous February day and set up outside on our kiddy picnic table. We found a bucket and put our soil in the bucket. To start seeds you should not use soil from your garden. Purchase a soilless mix, also referred to as potting soil, to start your seeds in. It is light and fluffy and the best choice for your seeds.
2. Next, we added water to the bucket and soil. It is important to mix the soil with water before putting it in the tray. If you fill the tray with soil and then add water, the water just sits on the top and very slowly absorbs. When you mix it prior to adding the soil to the tray, you know that the water is distributed evenly throughout.
3. Put your hands in the bucket and mix it up. I like to take large handfuls and squeeze the water into the soil. It feels spongy. If all of the soil is wet and there is extra water, make sure to dump the water out of the bucket. You want the soil moist not overly wet.
4. Fill each individual growing cell with soil. Level it off so it is nice and even.
5. Pick your favorite flower or vegetable seed. If this is your first experience with seed starting, I would start with two or three different varieties of plants. Some easy seeds to start are zinnias, marigolds, peppers, and tomatoes.  These seeds are larger and easier for little hands to help with.
6. Time to plant the seeds. Read the seed package; it will tell you the planting depth. This is essential for success! You can poke a hole and sink the seed into the hole. I have a master gardener friend who suggests placing the seed on the soil surface and then applying the extra soil on top. We put two seeds in each cell.
7. Now, you have to cover the seeds with a clear lid, plastic wrap, or a plastic bag. Seeds need humidity to germinate; and by enclosing the container, you keep the moisture in. This is a great lesson on the water cycle. If you use plastic wrap or a plastic bag make sure there is adequate air space for the seedling as it emerges from the soil. You can prop up the plastic with sticks.
8. The best temperature for seeds to sprout and emerge is between 65-75 degrees. I place our seeds in the window of our south facing, sliding glass door. A south window is perfect for starting seeds, because the warmth of the sun will help warm up the soil. If you do not have a south facing window, you may have to invest in a grow light.
9. Watch your soil everyday! Once the seeds begin to germinate and develop the first set of leaves, remove the cover. My girls look at the seeds everyday and somehow get the lid off. Ugh! What is a mom to do? I’m glad they anticipate germination but they are also slowing down the process by letting the moisture out. If this happens to you and the soil looks dry, use a spray bottle to moisten the soil.

This concludes Starting Seeds Part One. So what do you think? Simple enough, right? I know you can do it. Once our seeds have sprouted, I will show you how I plan to keep them alive and growing for planting in our garden. Stay tuned…

Switzer presents at Nutrients for Life workshop at MAEOE Conference

Rhoda Switzer, a teacher at an independent Montessori school in Maryland, recently created a comprehensive book list about agriculture, gardening, and everything in between for a Nutrients for Life workshop at the Maryland Association for Outdoor Education Conference (MAEOE).  As a whole, children today know less and less about where their food comes from and what it takes to get food on the table.  But teachers like Rhoda Switzer are working to educate students on the importance of agriculture in their day-to-day lives.  In the spring, her students work on Lesson 5 of our Nourishing the Planet in the 21st Century elementary curriculum:  Planning a Garden.  Ms. Switzer sees the value environmental education, such as having a vermicompost bin as a classroom pet and integrating environmental lessons into her classes.  Her school is also developing and installing a new playground for the school, in which they aim to have certified as a Nature Explorer space through the Arbor Day Foundation, and maintaining a butterfly garden.  Below is an excerpt from her book list; do you have other books to suggest for teaching soil science?

Agriculture: Farming, Gardening, Cooking

The Man Who Fed the World: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate by Leon Hesser: Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger  Dr. Norman Borlaug, one of the world’s greatest heroes, is the most highly-decorated individual of our time. He is credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. Dr.Borlaug is only one of five people in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In addition, Dr. Borlaug received the Padma Vibhushan, the higest civilian award the government of India can present to a non­citizen. The Man Who Fed the World has won three nation book of the year awards: USA Booknews best Biography of the Year. The American Farm Bureau for Agriculture BestBook of the Year award, and Florida Publishers Association Best Book Award.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy:   Use with Nutrients for Life’s Nourishing the Planet in the 21st Century curriculum when planning your garden, interesting garden designs including a pizza garden, snacking & sipping garden, moon garden, flowery maze,a garden of giants, Mother Nature’s medicine chest, and a Zuni waffle garden, alsoincludes container garden ideas.

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte: A second volume written as a companion to Roses Love Garlic, very handy in gardening planning, the idea of plants liking and disliking each other intrigues children, sections on soil improvement and pest control are especially helpful.

A Dyer’s Garden by Rita Buchanan:  If your class gets inspired to plant a garden full of plants which can be used for natural dyes this book is an excellent resource, includes many plants, their scientific names, growing conditions, how to use the plant stuffs to make dyes, which mordants touse, and color photos of the dyes side-by-side on various types of fabric.

Roses Love Garlic: Companion Planting and Other Secrets  of Flowers by Louise Riotte: Focuses on successful flower garden designs, use plant likes and antipathies in Nutrients for Life curriculum when garden planning, can also become creative writing project as plants have “helping friends” and “enemies.”

Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden by Sharon Lovejoy:  Most notable for including a floral clock garden design with plants which blossom at a certain of the day arranged in the shape of a clock.

Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof:  The definitive resource for setting up a vermicomposting bin, including different bins,what kind of worms to use, preparing worm beddings, what kind of food to feed the worms,harvesting worms, and making potting soil from the vermicompost produced.

Children’s Books

Earthsearch by John Cassidy:  Nonfiction book, Elementary grades, this unusual geography book is filled with hands-on activities to get across its essential ideas, most relevant to the teaching of soil science is the information on the population explosion and how many humans we will needto be feeding in just a few decades, helpful demonstrations of exponential growth.

And the Good Brown Earth by Kathy Henderson:  Picture book, Primary/Elementary grades, beautiful endpapers showing the venation of leaves, a young boy and his grandmother go to the garden all throughout the year to see what is happening: “digging time” “thinking time” “planting time” etc., “the good brown earth got on with doing what the good brown earth does best” refrain.

Apples by Jacqueline Farmer:  Picture book, expository text, Elementary grades, explains the agricultural process of growing apples, varieties, nutrition, history, includes apple facts and recipes.

Corn Belt Harvest by Raymond Bial:  Picture book, expository text, Elementary grades, detailed information about corn and how it is planted, harvested, and used, includes a diagram of the corn plant and some corn recipes.

Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas:  Picture book, Elementary grades, this beautiful picture book presents a new side of George Washington, end papers show a map of his farm at Mount Vernon, GW’s revolutionary farming ideas including the famous sixteen-sided barn, his exercises in breeding mules, and thoughts on using manure and crop rotation for soil augmentation, excerpts from his own writings are sprinkled throughout the text.

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart:  Picture book told as a series of letters, Elementary grades, takes place during the Great Depression when a little girl is sent away from her family to live with her uncle in the city, she cheers up her grumpy uncle by planting a beautiful surprise rooftop garden, show the joy and power of growing beautiful things, use if you are planting containers.

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert:  Picture book, Primary grades, use with Nutrients for Life curriculum when planning your garden, focuses on the colors of the plants to make a rainbow garden.

Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer:  Picture book, Primary/Elementary grades, explains how worms work underground to loosen the soil and feed the plants, includes a guide for further activities, nice tie-in with a vermicomposting bin in your classroom.