Hormone- and antibiotic-free manure

 I know some of you already have gardens at home. You're not reading this blog because you're waiting for our garden to open -- you're reading it because you love gardening and want to share the love! Knowing that, I think some of you will be interested in Colorado Springs Utility's manure fundraiser for Project COPE. It's a great initiative by CSU and Ranch Foods Direct, bringing you high quality manure and helping to keep families in need warm this winter.

Check out this link to the project to find out more.

Moving deck wood this Saturday!

We'll be moving deck wood for the garden beds this Saturday. We need a few extra hands, so please let me know if you can help. We'll need volunteers at the home where we're collecting the wood (about a mile from the school) to load wood and we'll need more volunteers at the school to unload the wood.

If you can help, please email me (Hillary) at foothillsgarden@gmail.com. Tell me how many of you will be there and whether you'd prefer morning or afternoon. I'll get back to everyone by Thursday evening to let you know what time and where to meet.

Oh, and anyone with a truck or a big SUV (full sized Suburban, Yukon, or Expedition) is welcome to help transport the wood. The more hands and vehicles, the faster we'll get done. Kids are welcome (and encouraged) to help!

Trailer, anyone?

We've got a big load of deck wood to move this weekend and we need help! Do you have a pickup truck and/or a trailer you'd be willing to drive for us? We'll supply the hands to load and unload the wood, but we need a pickup or two (or three!) to transport it all.

The boards are mostly 12' long 2x6 boards and all the hardware has already been removed, so there will be nothing sharp to scratch your vehicle.

If you can help us out, shoot me (Hillary) an email at foothillsgarden@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Digging in for Fall!

Everyone I run into these days asks me, "What is going on with the garden? I haven't seen any progress or heard about any volunteer days!"

I know, I know. We hit a few speed bumps, but we haven't stopped working. There were issues with land that we had to get permission to use, the fence that needed to be re-bid, district employees who were so busy with important indoor projects that our outdoor project had to be put on hold. All kinds of things have come up, but please know that the garden has not been abandoned.

You may not see it, but we continue to move forward.

Here is our plan for the next nine months. Before the first frost, we will

1. Have the volleyball court timbers removed and level the area where the garden will go.
2. Install the fence around the entire perimeter of the planned garden area.
3. Install the plumbing to the garden.

We will let the garden area sit over the winter as we work behind the scenes collecting wood for the raised beds (psst...we're still looking for used deck wood!), gathering kid-sized tools, creating garden curriculum, and planning what to plant in the spring.

At some point before, during, or shortly after spring break (the timing depends mostly on the weather), we will have a volunteer day or two to build the raised garden beds and roll out landscape fabric. Shortly after that, we'll fill the beds with organic garden soil and lay crushed gravel in the garden paths.

And then...and then, we'll plant!

Between now and planting time, we will need volunteers to help us out and we will continue to use this space to let you know about what we need and how you can help.

Thanks for your continued support!

School garden as part of food education

Organizations like the Jamie Oliver Foundation would like to see formal food education happening in schools all over the world. We are proud to say that the Foothills Learning Garden will contribute to the goal of improving food education. If you have read our formal proposal, you'll notice that the garden will be used to teach a variety of standards-based lessons, much more than food education alone. What cannot be denied is that a food garden teaches food education, whether or not that is a goal of the garden. We are glad to be making a small contribution to the improved health of future generations.

by FoodRevolution.

Whole Kids Foundation grants $2000 to the Foothills Learning Garden

The Whole Kids Foundation, whose mission is to improve children's nutrition and wellness with the goal of ending the childhood obesity epidemic, has granted $2000 toward the construction of the new Foothills Learning Garden. The Whole Kids grant application was turned in at the end of December and we were notified about our success in early May.

We are thankful that the Whole Kids Foundation and Whole Foods Market believe in the importance of supporting community projects that improve wellness in children and adults, and we are especially thankful that the Whole Kids Foundation saw the potential impact of our garden and chose to support us financially. Thank you to Whole Kids and to Whole Foods for your generous support!

Walkathon raises $4100 for the Learning Garden

The annual Foothills Walkathon, which took place in beautiful sunny weather on Friday, May 4th, raised over $4100 for the Foothills Learning Garden. Students gathered donations from friends, neighbors, and family members to contribute to building our garden. With lively music playing in the background, students spent two hours walking the field and tracking their laps.

Thanks to the PTO volunteers, teachers, staff, and students whose hard work made this year's Walkathon a success! And a huge thanks to the generous Foothills PTO for supporting the Learning Garden.