Category: Workshops

After checking in with Miss Avalos and the Urban Kinder-Garden, the kids showed me how they watered and tended to their garden.

Before they watered the garden, they filled me in on what’s been going down with the garden since I last saw them.

“Some of the plants died, but we got more in and they are still growing,” one student told me.

That comment was followed up with, “The plants are pretty.”

And, “The plants are super big.”

When Miss Avalos asked her class if they thought that they are going to have enough for a salad soon, they answered with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

Table One is in charge of watering the garden this week and took me outside to show me what’s up.

The kids took turns using the rain water that they harvested to water the plants. They shared their favorite plants with me as well. The red leaf lettuce, kale and peas were some of the top.

When I asked them how soon until they thought that they were going to get a salad, the number of days ranged from 20 through 100. We’ll just have to wait and see.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WNV-SdfRDg

It’s been just over two months since I set up the Urban Kinder-Garden with Miss Avalos’ class at Kester Ave Elementary, so I took a visit to check in.

Shortly after the garden was set up, the students went on winter break. Some of the students families took the containers home to care for them. Unfortunately, there were some casualties and not all of the plants returned.

Miss Avalos and the students replaced the plants with some new ones, including kale and parsley.

Each week, Miss Avalos has a table assigned to taking care of and watering the plants.

Southern Cali has been getting some rain lately, so the class set out a bucket to harvest rainwater to water their garden and taught them about using the resources that are available.

Since the garden is starting to grow, the kids are getting more excited as they get closer to getting the salad that they set out to grow.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8Xuibe7KE

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The second day of the Urban-Kinder Garden Workshop with Miss Avalos’ class was the real fun because I got to work with the kids on planting everything. No offense to the parents, I totally enjoyed my day with them making the containers too.

We started the morning off by going over the vegetables that we were going to be planting and talking about the various parts of the plant. The class was most fascinated with the roots.

I then showed them the worms that we were going to use for the compost bin, which got the biggest response.

I demonstrated how to fill the container with the soil and fill it with water.

The parents and kids were then divided up into groups to plant. Each group was assigned two containers with two plants per container. The kids dove into the soil hands first and started to fill the containers.

After everything was planted, I set up the worm compost bin for the class. I explained how the worms take the newspaper and food to make the soil and how it keeps those items from the landfill.

The kids screamed and cheered when I finally dumped the worms into the bedding. The food scraps were then divided amongst the kids to put into the bin.

At the end of the day there were about 15 self-watering containers filled and six hanging soda bottle planters.

All said and done we planted red leaf lettuce, mesculin mix, swiss chard, peas, green onions, red peppers, basil, parsley, stevia, dill and chocolate mint.

I’ll definitely be keeping in touch with Miss Avalos’ class and expecting updates as their garden continues to grow.

My favorite comment of the day was from Zackery who said, “You’re a good gardener.”

Who am I to argue with him?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm-3eD3KBpU

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For the first day of the Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop at Kester Ave Elementary School, I worked with the parents and relatives of some of the students to build the self watering containers for the garden.

We also discussed the environmental impacts of gardening and building the containers. Since we’d be growing our own produce, it cuts out the travel and oil costs associated with the food.

I mentioned to them that on average food travels from farm to table about 1,500 to 2,000 miles. For someone like me, who lives in New York City, most of my food is coming from California (if I’m lucky).

By the time it’s picked, packaged, shipped, unpacked and put on the shelf at a store…is it really fresh at that point? When you grow your own, you can trace the life of the vegetable.

Additionally, the containers are made from pre-existing materials. That brings down the cost to make them. Not only is it low cost, but it helps to keep the materials from landfills as well.

The one fact that I thought resonated with the parents (besides the low cost) was a soda bottle will sit in a landfill for 700 years before decomposing (GreenYour.) So imagine how long the big plastic containers would sit for?

After we spoke for a bit, we got to working on the containers. The tasks to build them were divided up and everyone got to work.

All said and done, we built about 15 containers for the kids to plant in. Some of the parents expressed interest in building some of their own self-watering containers at home.

When we were finished, the kids returned to the classroom and asked me a few questions about gardening such as, “Plants need worms” and “What’s an herb?”

The next day I’ll be planting the veggies with the kids and setting up a worm bin.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRZmtDO6JxA

I’m on the left coast this week conducting an Urban Kinder-Garden Workshop with Miss Avalos’ Kindergarten class at Kester Ave Elementary School in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Miss Avalos is tying the garden into the curriculum for her students.

Art
The first part of the project was having her student paint the containers, which helps them to express themselves creatively.

Science and Language Arts
“One of the cool things is that it also teaches about seasons and weather,” said Miss Avalos. “We are getting everything that is in season.”

Her class will be keeping a plant journal and talking about the parts and life cycles of the plants.

“Also the idea of taking care of our earth. We can do something local. We don’t have to waste fuel to get the food to us,” said Miss Avalos.

Team Buidling
The workshop and garden will also help the kids with their team building skills. They’ll have to work together to plant and maintain the garden.

Math
She’ll also be tying in math activities like how much they’ve gotten out of each plant.

Nutrition
“A lot of these kids haven’t been exposed to anything but iceburg lettuce. This is a whole new experience for them.

Responsibility
Some of the kids will also learn about having responsibilities as well. When winter break rolls around in a few weeks, some will get the chance to take the containers home to care for them.

When I was in elementary school, we just got the chance to take home a hamster.

The workshop will be broken down into two days with the first focusing on building the self-watering containers with the parents. After the containers are built, I’ll go over how the containers are made, how they work, about how they are reusing materials and the environmental impact of them.

Day two of the workshop will revolved around planting and setting up a worm composting bin.

It’ll be interesting to see how the kids react to the worms. I know that they still kind of freak me out.

My secret plan (well not so secret anymore) is that the kids have such a great time that they pester their parents to start their own gardens at home.

It’s all about getting people back in touch with their food source.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnuuGOcWzv0