Author Archives: Riley Giles

Green Ribbon School!

Posted on by May 29, 2018

Exciting news! One of our partner schools, Woodland Forrest Elementary School, has been named a Green Ribbon School by both the state Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education! Congratulations, Woodland Forrest!   You can help support Woodland Forrest … Continue reading →

Farm Stand

Posted on by December 18, 2017

Nothing “beets” buying your produce freshly grown from a crop of smiling 5th graders! Our Budding Entrepreneurs love learning how to run their own farm stand, handle money, and sell to the community.  

Gardening, a Universal Language

Posted on by December 6, 2017
You’re in an unfamiliar place. None of the words spoken around you make any sense at all. For you, this is a nightmare, or the start of a science fiction film. 
 
For five-year-old Olivia, this is her first day at a Tuscaloosa school. Trying to communicate with her teachers and classmates is frustrating. She has trouble making friends. She can’t understand the lessons.
 

Olivia, like any of us would, becomes quickly overwhelmed, breaks down in the classroom, and feels helpless. 

Her teacher takes her somewhere special: The Garden. 

One of our staff, equipped with some basic Spanish, introduces Olivia to gardening. 

It immediately helps our tiny gardener relax. The soil helps ground her, and the repetition takes her mind off the stress of feeling lost in her own classroom. 
It isn’t until she gets to watering, though, that Olivia really comes into her own. When she sees the droplets trickle from the watering can, her eyes light up. She wants to water everything, whether it’s part of the garden or not. She keeps refilling her little watering can all by herself. 
 
By the end she is smiling and happily chatting to the plants and her teacher, anxiety forgotten. 
There’s still a long road ahead, but the garden was the first step. And Olivia is on her way. 

Special moments like these are what you make possible.

 
You’re the watering can. You’re the soil. You’re Olivia’s sunshine.
 
Please consider donating today.
 
[The student’s details in this story are changed for privacy sake, but the story, and the impact of your support are 100% real home-grown goodness.]

Fun With Worms

Posted on by December 5, 2017

In a 2nd grade class at Verner Elementary, there was one girl who absolutely did not want to touch the worms during the lesson. But then at the very end, she whispered to our staff, asking if she could hold one. We gently placed one in her palm.

 Unlike the worm, our curious gardener didn’t squirm at all. Her eyes lit up. She let it wiggle around for a minute.

Then she asked, “Can I bring it home? I want to play with it at my house!” 

 

The Compost Crew

Posted on by December 5, 2017

Dirty, smelly, rotten food. Sounds repellent, right? 

Not to these students. It might be hard to believe that kids love to compost, but this Crestmont class can’t get enough of it.  Ms. Parker’s 5th Grade students have learned that if they have a leftover snack, it can go right in the compost bin!  

In fact, many of them have even been inspired to start composting at their own homes.

No word yet on how their parents feel about having rotting organic matter around the property, but we’re certain our students will convince them that composting has some great benefits!

Blossoming Friendships

Posted on by December 5, 2017

A few of our younger gardeners get a bit nervous around some of the insects in the garden, even the more helpful ones.

This week one boy said he was going to smack a particularly persistent wasp with his clipboard.

One of our staff made a last-ditch attempt to come to the rescue of the insect. “No, that’s Samuel, he’s my friend!”

The boy hesitated and replied, “How do you know him?”

After that, it was an all-out competition to name every single wasp in the garden–they also found Samuel Jr. and Marie. Looks like they’re slowly warming up to the garden insects!

You can support our pollinators such as Samuel Wasp and his family by donating today!

Posted on by December 5, 2017

“The soil was so soft! I want to eat it! Just kidding. If I ate it I would be a caterpillar!”

-1st Grade, Verner

 

Are you still called a gardener if you’re taking seeds apart?

Posted on by December 5, 2017

Kids love to take stuff apart to learn how it works, and seeds are no exception. At the beginning of each year, our third-grade students at Verner Elementary open up lima bean seeds to see all the tiny plant parts living inside.

One concerned student though, wondered aloud if the assignment hurt his status as a real gardener. “Aren’t gardeners supposed to be helping plants grow?”

He went on to explain that they shouldn’t be killing the plants they were supposed to be raising and nurturing.

This little scientist already intuitively understood the connection between the tiny seed in the classroom and the actual living things in our garden!