Friday

Today during the second shift, 1:30-3:30, Camilo, Amy and I (Julia) worked on mulching the Florida native beds, watered, and worked on some weeding. In one of the unplanted beds weeds have decided to flourish. I spent a while digging up the weeds and came upon an amazing root system (in the picture below). It was incredibly strong and took a good amount of time to pull out.

We then decided to re-mulch the beds of the Florida native plants and rearrange the rocks surrounding them, as you can see in the before and after photos below.

Around 3:00 one class arrived and we started off our semester! I was amazed at how invested the students were in learning what was going on in the garden. I had many students asking me about all of the plants and wanting to pick the vegetables. Another class arrived about 15 minutes later and it was great to meet even more students! I am so looking forward to the rest of the semester and getting to know these wonderful students. So far I have really enjoyed working at the peace patch and am excited to continue this journey!

Monday, Classes Start!

Second shift at Lakewood (11:00 – 1:00). We had 30 minutes until Ms. Barlow’s kindergarten students arrived! John, Mara, and I huddled and discussed our strategy and how we would split up and lead the 20 minutes of class time. We decided that John would do the introduction, Mara the garden rules, and I would assign students to group leaders. Great! Let’s go!

We heard them before we saw them; the students had just returned from lunch and were extremely excited to get out and meet the “garden people”. Ms. Barlow quieted them inside the school gate. She was calm but uncompromising, “Everyone pay attention and put on their listening ears before we go outside”. Sufficiently satisfied with their calmness she opened the door. Out they came, “bubbles and tail feathers”, which means lips pursed and cheeks puffed, and hands behind their backs with fingers spread like goldfish tail fins! We guided them to the shade of the live oak tree and arranged them in a row, cross legged on the sidewalk.

“WELCOME to the EDIBLE PEACE PATCH!”, John boomed with so much enthusiasm that I thought Willy Wonka had entered the schoolyard! Mara and I were startled by John’s dynamic introduction and the whole class sat up a little straighter. John did a fantastic job introducing the project and then Mara followed up with the garden rules discussion. The kindergarteners all had suggestions for rules with many versions of “No hitting, kicking, biting, taking things from each other, etc.” Mara reinforced the rule that students were not to step onto the garden beds less they damage some of the young seedlings coming up. After the rules discussion, I explain how each of them would be assigned to one of us as their “Garden Leader”. Unfortunately, time passed quickly. Group assignments and a first garden tour would have to be accomplished next time we met. “Farwell Ms. Barlow’s class! We will see you next week! Have a wonderful and productive week!”, we beckoned to them. The students followed Ms. Barlow to their next endeavor. Some of them called out their names to us as they passed by; eager to meet us again. Overall it was a great first meeting!

After the students left we dug into maintenance including clearing of the grass off the dirt pile. This proved to be a very hot and dusty job with LOTS of spiders, beetles, and other bugs were found living in the dirt pile (including an awesome squiggly cool purple millipede). I opted for the “gonzo approach” to clear the grasses. Using a shovel to dig around the weed covered pile, I tossed shovelfuls of dirt and grasses back to the top of the pile letting the weeds and their root balls tumble down and expose themselves for the culling. I found this to work really well. Mara, perfected what she calls “twirling the spaghetti” a technique she uses to remove all the pesky white root stems without breaking them and the brown spidery root bulbs of the sedges. Great progress was made on the dirt pile!

Ms. Diane

Week One; Maintenance and Getting Acquainted

Today, I worked at Lakewood with Corday. The garden is looking beautiful. Almost everything has been mowed around the beds, so it looks nice and neat. We have a few eggplants, tomatoes and peppers planted, they are putting along in the heat but doing well.

We could tell a lot of work was already done this week, but the butterfly garden still needed a lot of weeding, so we worked on that for the two hours. This part of the garden is especially important for the health of the whole garden because it attracts pollinators. Just today, I witnessed many different types of bees buzzing around all of the flowers.

This week was a good start to get acquainted with the garden, but I'm really excited to meet the kids next week and start teaching them about gardening.

-Chelsea

The Fall 2012 Season Begins

And so we begin our eighth semester growing food in the Edible Peace Patch Garden in Lakewood Elementary School.  This year I have been honored and blessed to have more volunteers than ever before.  Bright and early, 7:00 a.m., everyone rolled up to the back gate ready and raring to go.

The usual crew of Eckerd College students continue to make up the bulk of our semester long workforce, but we also have two student from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and a couple ambitious parents from Lakewood Elementary,

We had a tour of the garden (which is still looking a bit shaggy, but will be cleaned up in the week ahead), we checked the volunteer schedule to make sure everyone was assigned to days they could work, and made adjustments accordingly.

And the the volunteers went to work, transplanting starters and some slightly more mature plants that I have been nurturing in my back yard this summer.  I taught them how to prepare the soil and put the plants in the beds, and they set right to work.

By 8:00 a.m. as the sun was just creeping onto the garden, we had everything in.  Here are four eggplants that should begin producing before the month is out.

These are five sweet pepper plants.  There are also several more that have just sprouted, but are difficult to see.  We also expect pepper production within a few weeks.

The beds are ready, the grass needs trimming, but we'll get to that regular maintenance starting next Monday.

Everyone is so excited to put the garden in shape (you'll read about it next week) and then to begin sharing this wonderful project with the amazing children of Lakewood Elementary School.

Kip Curtis

Project Director

Fairwell Garden

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.  ~Hanna Rion
 
Today was the last day of the semester in the garden and my last day ever, as I am about to graduate!  We had the kids do a final assessment.  My classes were kindergarten and first grade, and we did a scavenger hunt in the garden to see what the kids remembered.  Both my groups knew so much!  It was really exciting to see. 
We said our goodbyes and sent our first grade class home with potted plants.

I've really enjoyed working with the Edible Peace Patch Project at Lakewood Elementary and may return some day yet!

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Elena

Our 4th Annual Harvest Fest: What a success!

 

 
In honor of yet another successful school year of growing, educating, learning, and coming together, Lakewood Elementary hosted the Edible Peace Patch's 4th Annual Harvest Fest on Thursday evening. Welcoming the friends, family, and community associated with Lakewood, the Edible Peace Patch volunteers hosted around 200 guests. Upon arrival, everyone gathered in the garden for a tour. Director and founder, Dr. Kip Curtis planted a young Slash Pine in memory of our dedicated volunteer, Nathan Mosby. Nate, known as "Nate the Great" by his students, passed away in a tragic accident in early April. His memory will live on in the garden, as well as our hearts.

Food was prepared on site by our dedicated volunteer educators. The vegetarian dishes showcased a variety of vegetables grown in our garden, giving everyone who came a sample of the delicious harvest we can produce together. While enjoying a light dinner, local singer/songwriter and environmental activist, Jun Bustamante, entertained the crowd with a sample of her works. As Dr. Kip Curtis said, "Jun is one of the hardest working local musicians there is!" You can check her out at: http://www.junonline.us/. Plants from the garden were raffled off as well including strawberry bushes, cucumber vines, pumpkins, collards, and more!

The crowd was also entertained by many of Lakewood's talented students including the 3rd grade singers performing the "Garden Song" and the 5th grade string ensembles. Smiling faces were to be seen all around the room as people ate, swapped stories, and enjoyed the performances. Having a great time together, working for a common purpose, and celebrating the growth we have all experienced from the garden made all the planning, early morning meetings, hot Florida days, and hard work really worth while. But hey, isn't that what a community is all about?

For me, seeing this event come together through the teamwork of all the volunteers made me proud to be a part of the Peace Patch family. I've been on the project for over two years now and every semester the students, the educators,  the spreading involvement, and the growth of the garden itself makes it more and more evident just how valuable this space is. As this year draws to a close, I would like to take the time to thank everyone involved in the project. Without everyone it would not be possible. To the administration of Lakewood, thank you for allowing us to build the foundation of the project in your schoolyard. To the students of Lakewood, your brilliance, smiles, and creative minds give this project its most fundamental meaning. To the volunteer educators, you all are the backbone of the Peace Patch and your time and efforts are deeply appreciated. To the curriculum development ladies, thanks for discovering and applying innovative lesson plans each week. To Erin Mattick, our Garden Manager, you go girl! Thank you for sharing your urban agriculture skills with us every week. To Dr. Kip Curtis, for having the inspiration, courage, and dedication to create and forge ahead with such a revolutionary and much needed non-profit; you have given light to the reason we are all here. Without you, the Edible Peace Patch would not be celebrating four years of community outreach, environmental education, and raising nutritional awareness in the Southside of St. Petersburg. And finally, to every person who has come in contact with The Edible Peace Patch Project, your encouraging support will continue to help us grow into the future.

If you would like to learn more about the Edible Peace Patch Project or get involved, please visit our website at www.peacepatch.org

See you on the Patch!
Katherine Schaefer
Edible Peace Patch Volunteer Coordinator

The Focus on Food

          This week is all about food in the garden. With our upcoming Harvest Festival on Thursday (parents and students be sure to come!), our lesson focuses on food production, growth, observance, and of course eating it. I started off early this morning by visiting Olivia and Kate during their shift to talk about preparations for the festival and beautifying the garden for all her visitors.

     As we went around the garden we noticed all the changes that had occurred and the variety we had grown this semester. The buzz in the garden seems to be stemmed from our very own pumpkin patch which should be ready by Thursday night! I'm thinking a raffle is in order... or some pumpkin pie...

one of 6 large pumpkins we have in the garden

       While my class and I observed the plants in the garden and discussed how they've grown and changed relating to out past lessons, we discussed last weeks lesson about seed saving and the vocabulary words adaptation and fortify. We went back to the seed bank and took a look at all the seeds that were saved last week and how they would grow and taste next semester.

Our very own seed bank :)

    A few weeks ago my classes and I had set up a drying station for herbs and seed pods in the shed. We now talked about what happens to the herbs when they are dried. How would they taste? How could they be used now that they were dry? Did they look more familiar now that they could be crushed up?

Globe Basil, Sweet Basil, Parsley, Mint, and some drying beet and radish

        I can't wait to make my collard greens for the festival! Here's a little preview of our awesome bounty of collards in the garden:

amazing bounty of collards

          Finally here are a couple of pics from this morning! We transplanted some strawberry plants and discovered a huge sunflower growing behind the compost pile!

Can't wait to see you all at the Harvest Festival this Thursday! It's been an amazing semester!

Erin Mattick
Gardens Manager

Wrapping Up April

Time is flying and April is almost gone!

We have been collecting seeds for the next planting.  Our sunflowers have taken a beating from the parrots that like to hang around the Lakewood neighborhood.  It's actually a treat to watch them fly above the garden and squat because they are beautiful creates.  There has also been bald eagle and osprey spottings. Our garden is more than just plants! 

The pineapples look exceptionally larger than the beginning of the semester.  Here is a picture of one that we by far the biggest. Look at that! April showers have definitely helped our garden. I hope that everyone in the Lakewood community can come to our Harvest Fest on Thursday to enjoy the garden just as much as all of us. 

-sydney

Seeds

It was an unusually cool day in the garden, but the sun was shinning and the kids were filled with a restless energy that probably resulted from being kept inside all weekend with the rain. I could tell that they were excited to be outside in the Peace Patch. Today's lesson had to do with seeds. We asked the students if they could tell us where they thought seeds could be found in plants. We then explained how seeds could be collected, dried and then stored for future planting. We took a tour of the garden having the students point out to us where the seeds where in the different plants. They stood in awe around the giant green pumpkins and excitidly pointed out a grasshopper that was nestled between the leaves. 

                                         

It has become much harder, in the past century, to tell where the garden leaves off and pure nature begins.

-Michael Pollan

 This is a delayed post from last Wednesday, been a busy week for a lot of us in both our college world and out in the garden. The kids were really excited to see the pumpkins growing to gigantic sizes and all the pollinators that are visiting our flowering plants. Our lesson focused on learning about the difference between plants and animals, and identifying the native and cultivated plants we are growing in our garden. The garden is really lush right now and it feels so fulfilling to be out amongst the plants looking at bugs and comparing leaves. The kids are so into the plants and insects, it allows me to get excited over every last plant and insect we find.

 -Noah Schlager

HOLY SHOVELS!

So, as I was organizing the shed this morning I realized that we have a surplus of shovels.

See? There is an assortment. But, that was not the only thing I realized while I was organizing this smokey morning. 

(Side note: South St. pete was covered in smoke due to forest fires further North and Boyd Hill was performing prescribed fires in their nature preserve. There was smoke so thick it was foggy.) 

Anyway, so as I have mentioned I was organizing the shed and when I organize, I think.  I began to think about why I was in the shed...and then why I was working on this project...and then why I even care about organizing the shed for this project.  Well, my sophomore high school English class and, more specifically, Joseph Campbell came to mind. In high school I found my niche working in the dark room.  I'm taking a photography class this year, senior year of college, and looking back at my negatives I found that 'nature' was a huge theme.  It was not just because it was just something to photograph, but that I engulfed myself, crawling under bushes and climbing mountains just to get the perfect shot.  When my English class began reading Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, my general love for everything was pruning and my thoughts began to flow toward my attraction to the wonders of nature.

"Follow Your Bliss," Campbell states.  I remember thinking, "Oh yeah, just follow your bliss, man. So simple. Blah. Blah. Blah."  I would just like to point out that Mr. Campbell posed this question to a class full of hormonal teenagers and a pregnant professor. I'm Sorry, Mr. Campbell, that we found bliss in baby names and chocolate at the time but I feel as though I now understand what you were trying to accomplish in that English class so many years back.  I love to be outdoors. I love to be with other people. I love gaining new knowledge and sharing it with others.  HOLY SHOVELS! This is my bliss-I love educating others about the outdoors.

Just a little reflection as I am leaving the project at the end of the semester and it has been a great ride!

sydney :)

For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes
at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the light
and the air which vary continually.  For me, it is only the surrounding
atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.
-  Claude Monet

Today we taught the kids about the sun.  Its age and its importance in processes like photosynthesis.  They knew a lot already, like how it is a star and makes water evaporate.  We discussed temperature differences between shade and sun and showed them the difference between a bucket of water left in the sun and a bucket of water left in the shade.  We showed them eggplant that had been left in the sun...

and the eggplant that has yet to be picked from the garden.

They really seemed to enjoy the lesson.  In particular, they had a lot of fun watering the garden at the end!

The banana plant is starting to look good again and the pineapple is looking great!  

We also have some garbanzo beans growing, and I was able to pick a carrot for one of the students to share with the class.

Yet another beautiful day in the garden!

Until next time,

Elena