A Bucolic Experience

By Gary Wellbrock

Today we have a guest post by Gary Wellbrock, a teacher at P.S. 347. He accompanied his class of first and second graders to the Learning Garden on  a bit of  a damp morning last week. In his own words:

We ventured off with the first and second graders to the Learning Garden at Randall’s Island Park.

Our outdoor adventure took an unexpected twist due to the capricious humor of Mother Nature but our tenacious guides remained undaunted by the storm.

Instead of frolicking in the rain-soaked outdoor garden, our hosts created an intimate bucolic experience in one of the stadiums. We divided our students into small groups and assigned them to one of the four stations.

1. Painting signs labeling the various fruits and vegetables in the garden.
2. Planting Forget Me Nots in small pots, which we got to bring home!

3. Learning about the parts of a plant (root, stem, seed, flower, leaf) and then tasting some delicious examples of each.

4. Visiting with the baby chicks. This was perhaps the biggest thrill for the children (although I’m not sure the chicks felt the same way).

They spent about 20 minutes at each station before rotating to the next. It was a pleasure to watch them become engaging in each activity, asking questions, working together and having fun.

The Learning Garden program provides an incredible opportunity for city kids to engage in a hands-on sensory exploration of garden activities such as planting, watering, weeding, mulching, composting, recycling and harvesting.

We have a small school garden with a greenhouse–our class is growing basil, rosemary, lavender and marigolds–so these skills are put to the test on a daily basis. Our goal is to provide food for our cafeteria so there are healthy food choices but at the moment the scope is limited. Perhaps experiences like the one we had at the Learning Garden will
motivate and inspire our students to grow the school garden into a larger program.

A huge Thank You to the urban farmers who shared their expertise with us!

We here at the garden had a great time and it was a pleasure having P.S. 347 visit. Please stop by Gary’s Blog at http://www.followingyourbliss.blogspot.com/ to and read the other projects he’s doing with his kids.

Our Babies are Growing Up!

By Nick Storrs

Antoinette on the Scale

It seems like every time we turn around here at the garden the chicks have grown even bigger. The evidence is all around us. Yesterday I caught them peaking over the edge of their pen to watch me water. They needed to strain their necks but all twenty beady little eyes were watching me. Their food and water both seem to disappear more quickly now and they all weigh over half a pound. Just this morning, Jeff went into the storage room where the chicks spend the night, and found a couple standing up on the edge of their box. One flew back down into the box but the other went to explore the rest of the storage closet. Uh Oh! After a little while she popped right back into the box (I think she still wants to be with the rest of the gang). Needless to say the top of their box is now properly roofed!

So it’s about time they all had names. We got a couple great suggestions over the last few days and we can now officially welcome Finnick, Sugar, Rory, and Naya to the Learning Garden Family. Come on down and say hello to the growing flock!

Suggestions PLEASE!

By Phyllis Odessey

Once a day, at least, I say “Hi, I am _________________” and the other person says Hi, I am____________________.”

I don’t expect our chickens to talk, but I still think they should have a name.  We want to introduce them to everyone who comes to the garden by name.  We are asking for your suggestions.  Below are photos of ALL of our chickens, those with names and those without.  We want your suggestions:

1.   Please name our remaining chickens… everyone needs a name
2.  Which chicken will lay an egg FIRST
3.  What color will that first egg be

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Send your suggestion to:
phyllis.odessey@parks.nyc.gov

Thank you.

Are You Ready For Your Close-up?

By Phyllis Odessey

We are not stars.  We go about our work.  The stars in our world are the plants we grow.  Today, was different.  Instead of head down, bent over a plant weeding; it was heads up!

A French TV Company, Home et Images Production came to The Learning Garden; to film a portion of their new documentary, “The Greening of the Big Apple  for Ushuaia TV.

We expected a film “crew,” instead just two:  Olivier le Bras, the film director and Fred Faure, the camerman .  We thought they wanted to film the garden, but to our surprise they wanted to film us in the garden.  A scramble for tools, a rush for plants and a few shirts straightened and we were ready for our debut performance.
Kaity Cheng, horticulture crew member was our liaison between French speaking filmmakers and English speaking gardeners.  When they were satisfied they had enough garden footage; each gardener had a close-up.  Finally Nick was interviewed.
After the facts were delivered, the final question asked by Olivier:
What is your green vision?
Nick’s answer:  We are trying to teach children where food comes from.

Will we make the final cut?  We will wait and see.

Building upwards!

by Nick Storrs

With all the new construction going on in the Learning Garden, we have been exercising our creativity and sharpening our carpentry skills.  Merryl and I built a series of trellises to support the new vine tomatoes as they outgrow the Casa Verde. After all the building projects with the Goldman Sachs Community Teamworks volunteers, we were excited to keep our drills in motion!

Fred with the new tomato trellises

Merryl and I were able to salvage four pairs of tree supports from past years planting projects and use them to erect a frame over two of our raised beds. After the frame was properly braced, we hung twine from the cross pieces down to the tomato transplants. Soon as the tomato vines grow, we will periodically tie them back onto the twine for support.

Now we are left looking for more ways to play with tools on the farm!

Sex Change: No Operation Necessary

By Phyllis Odessey

We were caught up in the excitement of having baby chicks.  Everyone who works in Icahn Stadium came by our office to take a peek.  Immediately, we began to characterize each little chick. .  We observed their behavior, their nesting habits, their colors, their ability to interact with others, the adventurous types  vs. those that were on the shy side.  After sizing the chick population; the naming game began. … Warren, Tony, Yoko.
Everyone  on our crew was satisfied that the chick and these three names went together.

As gardeners we know that nature is a more powerful than any other force.  And so it was in our little chick world.  We had to make some adjustments this morning.

Warren is now Wilma
Tony is Antionette
We still have more chicks to name.
SEND YOUR SUGGESTIONS
BY USING THE COMMENTS BOX.

UPDATE:
Warren has become Wilma
Tony has become Antionette

It Takes Almost A Village

By Phyllis Odessey
I wasn’t sure it could be done.
Were we being too ambitious?
Was it to much to ask?
Could 21 volunteers of unknown skill build the following in less than 6 hours?
a rice paddy
a gourd tunnel
a corn crib
a melon trellis
6 raised beds

ADD
soil
mulch
8 ft. fence
around the entire garden?
YES! YES!  YES! YES! 
Goldman Sachs Community Teamwork volunteers built all of the above, creating our new garden.

I want to share a few photos from the day with you.
Starting with “fort knox”,our corn crib.
Why do we need a corn crib?
To keep a pest out, who keeps eating our corn.
I believe we have built the best mousetrap possible.

The rice paddy was built brick by brick, course by course.
A plastic liner added.
Next, volunteers added soil.
In the photo Eunyoung stomps the soil.  Next the propagation of 300 cups of  rice.

The gourd tunnel started with some posts in the ground.  The “tunnel” idea came from a similiar structure I saw in the UK.  Kids walk under the gourds, its a playspace and a growing structure.

Volunteers add the strapping and the “roof” boards.  In this photo, Goldman Sachs volunteers add the wire fencing for the vines to grow up.  It  is being stapled in place.

Planter boxes for the gourds to grow up and cover the tunnel were also built.
Amazing!

The melon trellis.

The western part of the garden is sloped. What could be built there?
A trellis which would work on uneven ground.
In this photo, volunteers add chicken wire which will allow the melon vine to cover the trellis .The raised beds are carried into place.  It was hard going. The beds are made of TREX, a dense recycled plastic material.  We went through all the battery packs we had for our 4 drills.  We use TREX because it’s a green material and unlike wood, kids can’t get splinters when leaning over the beds to plant.

It was getting late.  We started mulching.  3,000 sq. ft. is a huge area and requires  a lot of trips with wheelbarrows and buckets.

Another group worked on the fence, they finished before the day was over.

This is what can happen in a day… when you have  almost a  village

made up of dedicated, hard-working volunteers.

We thank all the volunteers from Goldman Sachs from coming out and making  this new space.  We will keep you posted on how its being used.