|
People who have made the garden program possible.
Some have moved on to other things and others are still with us but each
played his or her part in making the program what it is.
Jodi Arthur
John Ames
Bill Baumgartner
Kevin Boys
Kyle Bush
Alan Brookes
Sharyn Czebatul
Janet Fahrenbruck-Lynch
Nancy Garfinkel
Doreen Goebel
Jane Gonzales
Rita Heikenfeld
Trish Hoge
Jennifer Jennings
Peter Johnson
Ellie Kowalchik
Jody Maher
Carol Marples
Jennifer Painepinto
Cathy Probst
Eric Roth
Stephanie Sarnecki
Ron Salatin
Linda Vandemeter
Anita Winning |
|
The seed for the idea that grew into
Granny’s Garden School began in my
own gardens. I was the Granny Nanny to my two grandchildren,
Nicole and Steven. They were four and five years old when I moved
to a little bungalow just down the road from the schools. They had
grown up in my backyard gardens picking green beans, digging potatoes,
pulling carrots and playing in the soil. In my efforts to create
a nurturing environment for them, I created a special place that attracted
both adults and children. The rule in my gardens then (and now) was
that flowers were for picking. Whenever a child went by they were
invited to select any flower they wanted and I would pick it for them.
Whenever someone would stop and admire the gardens I would pick them a
bouquet.
My gardens grew along with my grandchildren and
I began to offer free workshops
for parents and kids. I had witnessed the effect that flowers
have on people. I didn’t know exactly how, but I knew I wanted
to give more kids the opportunity to pick flowers. By the fall of 2001,
my grandchildren were in the first and second grades at the primary school.
One day, while at school to pick up the kids, I noticed a lady planting
mums. A light went on in my head!!! Wow!! Look at the possibilities
here. It had never occurred to me that one could plant something
at school.
I learned her name was Nancy Garfinkel, that she
worked in the school library and was planting the mums because she was
tired of how dismal it looked in front of the building. The school grounds
were totally barren of anything except for grass and trees.
I told Nancy about my desire to make it possible
for kids to pick flowers. She introduced me to Kyle Bush, the primary
school principal. He introduced me to elementary school principal,
Al Brookes then John Ames, the grounds manager. Three weeks later
they were all there to support me when I made a presentation to the school
board. The original idea was to give kids a chance to pick flowers.
By the time we got to the board meeting the program we have today was beginning
to emerge
We launched the program the following spring.
For three days, the kids spent their gym classes digging a garden bed and
planting donated perennials. I developed garden activities and the teachers
signed up to participate. By that fall, seventeen teachers had signed
up for their own class gardens and were coming out each week to work with
me. By the spring of 2003, the total jumped to 37. Today, we
have fifty five, 10’ x 20’ class gardens that are used to teach across
the curriculum. Students come out as part of their school day to
plant, weed, harvest and learn.
The impact of our programs reach beyond what is
going on in class. We have changed
the whole environment of the school grounds. We were responsible
for ten Eagle
Scout projects that have created learning centers and a nature
trail that can be used by members of the community as well as students.
We have received local and national awards and media attention that sheds
a favorable light on both the schools and the community.
We have hosted representatives from more than
twenty-five schools from as far North as Cleveland and as far south as
Louisville. They came to see first hand what we are doing.
We provided plants, seeds, guidance and lent tools to many new programs
nearby, including: Children’s Meetinghouse, St Columbian and Yavneh
Day School in Kenwood, among others.
As I researched school garden programs from across
the country, I have seen the ghost of many programs that used to be.
One common factor in their failure was that the person with the passion
who started the program left the school and without their nurturing the
program fell apart. To prevent this from happening to Granny’s Garden
School, we applied for and were granted non-profit 501 c 3 status in 2006.
We have a volunteer board of directors who are in charge of developing
a structure that will continue to support the organization into the future
when I am no longer around.
Now, five years later, the program (like my two
older grandchildren who were my inspiration are now twelve and thirteen
and have moved on to the upper grades) continues to grow and mature.
While the first five years were spent developing the gardens, trails and
program, the next five will be spent improving what we have, finding ways
to make the best use of what we have created and developing a framework
that will support the organization into the future.
Roberta Paolo (a.k.a. "Granny") |
