SCHOOL GARDENS - Providing a wealth of learning opportunities

Yep, school is definitely back in session. We know this because we’ve been getting calls from schools in Santa Barbara County, requesting compost and topsoil to establish, improve and/or maintain school gardens.

 Educational Benefits
A garden has to be designed and laid out, providing a chance to utilize planning and math skills in a group setting. Soil preparation is an opportunity to learn about the importance of soil organic matter, earthworms and general soil ecology. Plant selection and placement require research and more math. As the plants grow, students will have to determine the most efficient way to irrigate and control weeds.

The Value of Sharing
When the garden begins to produce, students are rewarded for their hard work in ways that often leave lasting impressions. In some cases, a portion of the garden crop is donated to a local food bank or other worthwhile agency. Some schools use their harvest in their cafeteria. Others encourage students to share their bounty with family and friends. The common thread that runs through these programs is the joy children derive from sharing their harvest with others.

School Pride
It's known that students involved in any campus project are more likely to have a caring attitude about their school. We know that when students work hard to plan and install a beautiful garden, they develop a sense of pride in their school surroundings that might not otherwise occur.

Field Trips to Engel & Gray Regional Compost Facility
Engel & Gray invites classes to tour our Regional Compost Facility. Please plan for your visit and contact our office at least 30 days in advance. Our field trips are available for grades 3 and up. The approximately one hour tour will include the following:

• An overview of the compost site
• A description of the process turning yard trimmings and food scraps into compost and mulch
• A discussion of the importance of reuse and recycling
• Promoting the ‘Completing the Cycle’ message
• Coloring page featuring “Mike Robe – the busiest microbe in the windrow!”

For tour information - please call 805-925-2771

Product Donations
Engel & Gray Regional Compost Facility and Harvest Blend Compost are proud supporters of Central Coast School Garden programs ~ believing there is no better environment than the garden in which to - Plant the seeds of knowledge; experience the joy of learning and harvest a bountiful crop of lifelong learners. Naturally!

Need compost for your school garden? Give us a call @ 805-925-2771 and ask for Jim or Chuck. You can also reach them at Jim@EngelandGray.com or Chuck@EngelandGray.com

www.GotCompost.com

FREE LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE WORKSHOP!

Join us Wednesday, September 19 for a FREE Landscape Maintenance Workshop!

FREE LUNCH │ FREE RAFFLE │ Enter for a chance to win CORE gasless trimmer valued at $273-

When: Wednesday │September 19│11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Where:  Jack’s Repair, 930 W. Main St., Santa Maria, CA.

Experts will present info on Compost Applications and Benefits │ Learn about the latest in Outdoor Power Equipment and Proper Equipment Maintenance.

Enter to win a FREE CORE gasless trimmer! The latest in Trimmer technology!

For more info – call Chuck @ 925-2771 or Email Chuck@ENGELandGRAY.com

To learn more about Harvest Blend Compost, check out www.GotCompost.com and Like us on Facebook.

Fall is the perfect time to top dress lawns and we can help with quick & easy instructions!

Click here to find Harvest Blend Compost @ a location near you on the Central Coast. Authorized dealers can help you plan your next DIY project. Naturally!

 

Peabody School Completes Playground Renovation

On September 30, 2011 a dedication ceremony was held at Peabody Elementary, in Santa Barbara, CA, to recognize the completion of the school’s renovated playground. Representatives from Engel & Gray, Inc. were on hand to receive a certificate of thanks along with a large poster, containing messages and signatures from the students of Peabody.

Four months ago, Engel & Gray Regional Compost Facility delivered 160 cubic yards of compost to Peabody School, a participant of the City of Santa Barbara’s Food Waste Recycling program. Project manager, Jeff Holbrook, worked with Engel & Gray to arrange for delivery of the donated soil amendment, used to improve soil for a safe, revitalized playground.

Parents, students and teachers appreciate their food waste recycling program coming full circle. The students and faculty have regularly sorted their food waste and other compostables into 65 gallon bins, to be collected by Engel & Gray Regional Compost Facility in Santa Maria. Recycling Peabody’s organic materials into nutrient rich compost for use in renewing the playground is the ultimate in recycling – helping the community to successfully “Complete the Cycle”.
Santa Barbara has a waste diversion goal of 70 percent, and in 9 more years, an ambitious 85 percent.

With time, effort and education, students will learn to recycle and compost like it’s second nature. They will have years of hands-on experience sorting, recycling and composting their waste – and Engel & Gray, Inc will be on hand to serve and support the effort. Naturally!

For more all the details on compost use, click here

Give-Away Distributes Over 12 Tons of Harvest Blend Compost!

Say you want to hold a workshop to educate the public on all the good stuff compost can do for their lawns, gardens and community. Getting folks to come out on a beautiful Saturday morning might sound a little tough, but we found the key: coffee, donut holes and an entertaining presentation! Oh, guess the free vegetable transplants and Harvest Blend Compost might have made a difference.

We had a great turnout at our Pro Am Series Lawn & Garden Workshop at Mussell Center last Saturday, May 21. More than 12 tons of premium Harvest Blend Compost and hundreds of vegetable transplants were given away to participants.

The City of Santa Maria Utilities Dept. set us up in a room next to the Community Garden – really handy since many of the participants have plots there. Our day began around 9:00 a.m. with Bob Engel, Harvest Blend Compost Vice President, taking the floor to introduce us to the composting process. He turned what could be a dry, scientific topic into something we wanted to learn more about.

Our garden/soil experts, Jim Gill and Chuck Nagel, then spoke about:

The importance of healthy soil for a healthy garden: the proper foundation is necessary for a healthy garden. Your veggies and flowers won’t thrive without the necessary nutrients. Compost provides those nutrients, as well as improving soil structure and soils’ water holding capacity.

Sustainable gardening: working with, instead of against, nature. Applying compost to lawns and gardens fits this definition. Buying and reusing recycled organic materials (compost) supports the diversion of these resources from landfills, lessening the impact on this already overcrowded area.

Lawn Top dressing: applying a layer of compost over a lawn, raking it in and watering, will create a strong, green lawn your neighbors will envy. Our authorized Harvest Blend dealers have all the literature you need to do it yourself. Click her for a dealer near you

Outside in the fresh air, guests were able to choose from a selection of vegetable transplants donated by Plantel Nurseries, Inc. Looks like we’ll be enjoying tasty salads of red & green lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and bell peppers this summer!

Even the kids had fun! This little guy couldn’t wait to get home to start his garden and kept asking his mom when he could “jump in the dirt pile” (actually compost, but we didn’t think that would change his mind).

  

Now it was the big kids’ turn to have fun getting dirty! Bags, pails, wheelbarrows and even truck beds were filled with premium Harvest Blend Compost. Those with a garden plot nearby trucked the compost to their gardens and began working it into the soil.

 

By 4:00 that afternoon the roll-off had been swept clean! More than 12 tons of compost had been given away to community residents who will now replenish the earth with this valuable resource; growing gardens, top dressing lawns and “Completing the Cycle”. Naturally!

For more info on Harvest Blend Compost click here

Thank you to everyone who donated their time, efforts and resources to make this event a success. We couldn’t have done it without your cooperation.

Garden Dirt: How to Plan a School Garden

School gardens can provide an environment in which students can learn to work with teachers, parents and neighborhood volunteers while growing plants and learning the relationship between people, plants and nature. The lessons that are taught at the garden site are limited only by one's creativity. School Gardens are a special kind of learning center. Like libraries, they need responsible and knowledgeable people to do all the jobs necessary to maintain them as functional places in which children will learn. They should be seen as permanent additions and must be utilized year-round. Below is a framework you might take into account before starting your garden. A recent survey by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom found that more than 60% of the students thought that cotton comes from sheep and vegetables come from the store. There is clearly a need for agriculture education for urban students. In addition, gardens create enthusiasm for learning, encourage nutrition and foster team-building.

Step 1 - Form a Garden Committee

As a teacher, you don’t have enough time to do it all. You’ll need a team to work the garden, find funds to support the garden, schedule educational activities, find and train volunteers, research and distribute information. Form a garden committee from a pool of dedicated people with those skills, and you’ll increase the success of your program. Look for volunteers among the school staff, parents, and local community. Or if you know of a gardener, ask that person to volunteer or to recommend another gardener. Find out who is interested in being involved by sending out a flyer announcing a meeting. Personally announcing the meeting to local groups (PTA, Rotary Club, teachers, churches, senior citizen centers, local garden clubs, etc.) is even more effective. Most school sites have websites and Facebook pages – posting your flyer on the internet is a great way to get a response!

Step 2 - Define the purpose and objectives of your garden.

Every school garden must fulfill some need or objective. This is why each garden is unique. All teachers utilize the garden as a learning aid. For some teachers it may reinforce natural science classroom studies. For others it may reinforce social studies. Some teachers may utilize the garden across all curriculums. Whatever your needs are, by addressing these issues, you will have a better understanding of the work involved in this stage.

Step 3 - Layout your students gardening activities

By outlining objectives early on, you will have the opportunity to look at your lesson plans to see when and what types of garden lessons are needed. If you need help finding educational exercises and activities, there are many resources available for teachers. You will need to decide which groups of students will be doing what and when, and determine how bed space will be distributed. The experiences and input from your garden committee will be helpful at this stage. This is your opportunity to schedule certain activities at specific times or assign jobs to your volunteers.

Step 4 - Define a year-round garden plan

You have identified what your garden will be like while school is in session. But now, you need to think about your garden during summer break. The main question is, "Who is going to keep this garden maintained until school starts?" "How do you want the garden to look on the first day of school?" A year-round garden plan will account for any school break. After all, we wouldn’t want all that hard work to go to waste over the summer now, would we?

Step 5 - Choose a permanent garden site and design your garden

Your garden site should be in an area that receives plenty of sunlight, has good drainage, and is close to water, electricity and is available to students, volunteers and teachers. The site should have enough room for your garden, tool storage, and students. Maintaining a large garden will use up a good deal of time and energy so select a relatively small area. Be sure to start your garden with the best foundation: healthy soil. Amending soil with Harvest Blend Compost will add structure and nutrients to compacted soil, enabling young plants to grow strong and healthy. Compost increases soil porosity and moisture retention.

For more info, visit www.GotCompost.com 

If you need compost to get your garden started, just email us at Info@HarvestBlendCompost.com or EDUCATION@ENGELandGRAY.com

The following concerns should help you decide where plants will grow best:

• A Vegetable garden needs 5-8 hours of full, direct sun every day for plants to be healthy - Hoses are heavy and often can't be left in the schoolyard. You will want to build your garden as close as possible to a water spigot or hose bib. Or install one near your garden site.
• Drainage - Most plants will die if they sit in soggy soil. Make sure that the site you choose isn't the lowest place on campus. Watch where water sits longest after it rains and you'll know where you don't want to build your garden. You can build a garden on asphalt by using raised beds. If you are going to use soil that is already on campus, it is important to have it tested by a reputable company. Some vegetables can become unhealthy to eat if they are grown in contaminated soil.
• Access - The garden needs to be close enough to classrooms that it can be used regularly. A garden that is out of sight is hard to monitor, maintain and enjoy!
• Tool Storage - Choose a location to store and secure tools. Make sure it’s close to the garden so transporting tools isn't too difficult.

6 - Build your Garden according to plan

Now is when it all comes together - when teachers, volunteers, students and their parents pool their resources and build a positive addition to the school.

Resources:

Need Compost? email Education@ENGELandGRAY.com.

Welch's Harvest Grant: http://www.scholastic.com/harvest/register.htm

Gardening with Kids: http://www.gardeningwithkids.org/info.html