The Festival!

What a day! Today was the culmination. More than 200 people came to see our garden and celebrate our success. President Donald Eastman of Eckerd College joined us. Parents, schoolkids, Eckerd College students and parents, school board officials. Yesterday the kids had harvested the vegetables we have been growing. Today we celebrated the results. The garden, which we have worked hard to grow, was full.

Visitors walked through from 6:00 until 6:40 when we finally had to ask them to come inside and join us in our meal. They peered at the watermelons still flowering and growing and peaked at the cucumbers still sprouting on the vine. Inside, everyone had gotten the food prepared and laid out for the guests to eat. Corky Stern, the cafeteria manager had prepared a salad and Eckerd students had made several delicious dishes of food. The line wound through the cafeteria and out the door. Everyone ate.

The vegetables we grew looked wonderful. We had them on display, where we had not already integrated them into our dishes. While the meal was consumed, we were treated to a delightful rendition of "The Garden Song" sung by the fourth and fifth grade chorus and a wonderful documentary by Kelly Schiller. We have made a beginning.

Tonight I am so proud of our students. They worked so hard, improvised so well, and stepped up to the challenges of planning and growing a garden, planning and teaching environmental education, loving and bonding with the Lakewood students, and generally proving themselves to being upstanding, hard working, and incredibly dedicated individuals. Each and every one of them put their hearts and souls in to this project and each, in their own way, contributed much to making this project a success. We have grown food, life, and community. I am proud of them. Thank you Peace Patch crew:

Teresa Aiken for her unyielding good humor and infectious smile.
Kaylie Birdsall for her pragmatic good sense and leadership.
Chris Brombacher for his gift with children and quick wit.
Alex Caterino for her loving personality and passion.
Tyler Christie for his cool demeanor and hard work.
Kathy Corradi for her maturity and intelligence.
Andrea Dryden for her responsibility and great insights.
Lowry Gilbert for her hard work and persistent joy.
Erica Heller for her dedication and consistency.
Tommy Leonard for his great attitude and native smarts.
Martha Long for being irrepressibly and irresistibly Martha.
Dylan O'Brien for giving so much and caring so deeply.
Kayla Phinney for being part of the inspiration and living up to it.
Donnelle Piscitelli for her delightful intensity and great work ethic.
Lauren Popper for being so smart and so incredibly laid back.
Andrew Porter for his unusual wisdom and kind heart.
Will Rhame for his good humor and flexibility.
Brooke Saba for taking on so much and learning more than all of us.
Kelly Schiller for her gifted eye and creative dedication.
Sarah Schweig for constantly pushing herself.
Molly Shuman-Goodier for doing more than she needed to.
Jessica Stone for being so sweet and smart and honest.
-and-
Kelly Travers for attention to detail and the original garden plan.

You are all an inspiration, tangibly so:

Lakewood Elementary, Eckerd College harmonize with garden

Thanks for getting this garden off the ground and thanks for sharing so much of yourselves this semester!