| CPRC Common Ground Summer 2006 |
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| Written by Administrator | |||
| Sunday, 10 September 2006 00:00 | |||
It's been a fantastic summer with a great deal of garden growth, both among plants and people! We look forward to more of it during the coming fall and spring. Planting for fall has begun in Edisto Court; the garden is located on Wiley Street (between Superior St. and Edisto Ave).
Although it doesn't feel like it, summer is nearing its end. This past Tuesday marked the final community garden workshop for the summer at Rosewood's Ben Arnold Center, as public schools start up next week. We were able to work with some 25 children over a period of about 7 weeks and made lots of friends. It's been a fantastic summer with a great deal of garden growth, both among plants and people! We look forward to more of it during the coming fall and spring. Planting for fall has begun in Edisto Court; the garden is located on Wiley Street (between Superior St. and Edisto Ave). DATES TO REMEMBERAug. 19, Sat., 5-10pm; Finlay Park. One Love Concert; CPRC Common Ground Columbia will talk with attendees about community gardening and peace-as-sustainability at its booth. Aug. 26, Sat., 7pm Unitarian Universalist Church. On the anniversary of the Katrina disaster, learn what New Orleans Common Ground residents are doing to rebuild their city and their lives. Find out what CPRC\'s Columbia Common Ground Community Garden group can do in solidarity with their effort http://www.commongroundrelief.org/node/168 (look for more details about a two-week CPRC trip to NOLA in May to work on planting in order to remove toxins from the ground). CPRC COMMON GROUND PROGRESS REPORTThurs. 7/13 After Karlaan facilitated a generous donation of mushroom compost and coordinated with Ray Williams and Ryan Washington to truck it over, she and Lori met Ryan at Carolina Eastern to organize the transfer. In the afternoon Nick brought his rototiller and, with much difficulty, worked the clay in the front flower bed with Andrew and Bob. Karlaan, Lori, Rob, Jason, Jerry, Cassandra, and Melanie moved compost, dug dirt, and constructed half of the permaculture beds. Fri., 7/14 City compost for the front flower bed was delivered, coordinated by Lori and Karlaan. Tues., 7/18 Karlaan, Andrew, and Lori met the teen group, who helped to mix City compost into the front flower bed; the younger kids later planted their sunflower seedlings (two of which are still alive). Cassandra sent bananas as a snack for the ages 5-7 group, which collected the peels (as well as Yo Burrito scraps) and together learned the right way to layer vegetable scraps, dirt, and leaves in the wire container out back. Lori and the younger kids did an impromtu \"I wanna eat...X\" chant while dancing in a ring. The kids were also fascinated by all the bugs, especially crickets, in the mushroom compost pile. Tuesday, 7/25, Lori and Cassandra split the kids into two groups. Lori talked with the kids about why some of the seedlings died, created another layer in the compost pile, and noted the bugs in the compost and their importance in the garden/cycle of life. Meanwhile, Cassandra led her group of kids in a ladybug chant with the same theme and talked with them about herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. It was difficult to explain that we then wanted the two groups to switch activities, and it was getting hot, so we wrapped up with asking 5 kids at a time to name an animal they had seen in the garden. A couple groups of 5 then visited with the box turtle that travelled with Lori from her garden that morning. Two of the children raised the question of whether it was a carnivore or an herbivore, since one of the children knew that sea turtles ate fish. We noted that this was a good question, that there are many differences between box turtles and sea turtles, and that we knew box turtles ate vegetation (in fact, they also eat bugs and so are omnivores; as for sea turtles, it depends on the species!). After an unusually stimulating morning, the box turtle rode back with Lori to return to her small strawberry patch. Later that day, Cassandra facilitated a donation of flower plants from a nursery. Thurs. 7/27 Karlaan arranged a generous donation of chicken manure and she and Lori shoveled a truckload of it, part of which went to the Edisto Court garden. Tues. 8/1 Lori and Karlaan split the children into two groups. While Karlaan planted the flowers with the children in the front bed, Lori invited the other group to try games on the web site Cassandra found. Then both groups signed thank you cards to be given to contributors. After the group photo, each child received a card describing the project, which also included instructions for a kitchen garden and a seed packet, to share with their families. Add your comment
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