Thanks to a lot of creativity and enthusiasm, we were able to work with some 25 children over a period of about seven weeks and made lots of friends. As part of our workshops with the children we started a flower garden at the entrance of the building. We have held the Summer Children's Workshop Series in service to the Boys & Girls Club every summer for the past three years.

That first summer in 2006, Karlann and I made a soil enrichment plan (and hauled truckloads of chicken manure and mushroom compost. We were then ready to begin a vegetable garden behind the Ben Arnold Center. In July 2006 volunteers created two permaculture mounds but in the Fall we decided to do a one-time tilling of the overgrown mounds into the hard clay beneath them. 

Between two and four times during the rest of the year we plant flowers and bulbs with the young gardeners after school. A limited number of plots are available to families and community residents for individual organic vegetable beds. Leave a message for Karlaan at 803-I-GO-CPRC if you are interested in helping to lead summer educational workshops or in maintaining your own vegetable bed.