First planting day of 2018 at Camarena Garden this Friday

Garden is coming along and we are going to be ready to plant the large rectangular beds this Friday, August 17th!! The beds have new drip irrigation and (most) of the weeds have been pulled. We will be planting zucchini, tomatoes and bush beans. We will be asking parents to send their gardener to garden club with one of the above to plant, preferably organic and some heirloom varieties of tomatoes would be really great! If you are unable to send a plant don’t worry there will be plenty of work to do…watering, shiny pinwheels to place to keep the birds away, weeding, always something needs doing in the garden. Enjoy some of the before and after pictures, our garden is coming together!

After

After

Before

Before

 

Welcome Back Gardeners!

Welcome back to the garden Camarena Students and Parents!! We had our first Friday morning meet-up in the garden last week. There were some familiar faces as well as some new ones and it was good to get out and start working in the garden. We are currently awaiting to see if we have funding for Coach Keith in the garden for lunchtime garden meet-ups on Mondays and Wednesdays and until then we are relying on parents to lead the garden club meetings on Friday mornings where we are mainly watering and getting the weeds pulled so we can start planting!

Some of our garden goals include hosting the annual Earth Day Festival in April, fundraising booth at the Winter Carnival, some shade for meetings in the garden, grant writing for improvements and supplies, increasing recycling and composting on campus, growing food we can share with the school and a more automated watering system.

The driving force behind the garden will be coming from our parent volunteers so if there is a project that interests you don’t be shy! The goals of the garden are to cultivate a sustainable community of gardeners, promote good environmental stewardship and try good food!

I will be holding a brief meeting Monday, August 13^that 8:30 AM in the Multipurpose Room for parents interested in learning more, hope to meet you then.

Earth Day 2018

Now that the dust has settled from our amazing Earth Day event in the school garden, we have some time to sit and reflect on what some of our favorite moments were from the day. Students loved being outside and learning from some of our fantastic community partners who came to help us celebrate and learn. Check out some of the photos from the event in the photo album. Thank you to everyone who came out to share their knowledge and love with the students!

Earth Day 2018 is coming!

We’re already starting to plan for Earth Day 2018. Memories of last years event are filling our hearts. Which made me realize, we never shared photos from Earth Day 2017! Check out some of the highlights from the days events in the photo album. 

Earth Day at Camarena is Friday, April 21!

We have much to be grateful for this Earth Day. Winter rains have watered our vegetables and the garden has never looked (or tasted) better! Just in time for our celebration on April 21.

Note to all garden club kids and parents: We need your help! For kids who want to work at the event, a permission slip signed by your parent and teacher is required. Go visit Miss Norma in the front office to get the slip and then return it to her when it is signed.

For parents, please let me know if you are available! Most of you are already signed up and I will be confirming what station you’ll be helping at. We couldn’t do Earth Day without you all! And as an added bonus, Miss Dessie is catering her fabulous food for this event. So come hungry!

See you all at garden club on Friday at 7:30am! More updates then.

*Thank you to Leah Cervantez for taking these gorgeous photos of our garden!

 

WANTED: Your unwanted paper towel and toilet paper rolls.

Earth Day is approaching quickly. The Camarena Garden Club members need your help. We’d like to take your old paper towel and toilet paper rolls off your hands for a fun Earth Day project for the students of Camarena Elementary.

Start collecting and garden club members will be happy to help you Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

We’d like to turn this:

Into this:

More to be revealed later! Thanks for your support!

Monday and Wednesday Lunchtime Gardening

Exciting news! Coach Keith Quigley has been hired to be our gardener and work with students on our lunchtime gardening/composting program. He coaches lacrosse at Olympian High School and teaches lacrosse clinics throughout our school district–which is how many of
our students know him! He is an avid gardener and has worked in Tiffany Elementary’s school garden. He will be in our garden (and cafeteria area) Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30-1:30 to help students organize and transport the food waste into our compost bin. Kids of all grades are welcome to spend their lunchtime recess in the garden either composting or tending our plants. Thank you to the American Heart Association for funding this program! We are grateful to have Coach Keith join us at Camarena!

 

 

Back from Break!

This was the last day of garden club before the break. Our garden gatherings have different meaning to different folks. Some of us like to work with our hands in the gritty soil, some of us (parents) like to visit while sipping hot coffee, and some of us like to play with Barbie and her snazzy pink Corvette. Whatever it is that brings you to the garden, welcome. We’re glad you are here.

Stay tuned for lots of activities to come. Club was rained out today but we’ll be back next week. A joyful, healthy New Year to everyone!

 

District Garden Meeting Wednesday, Nov 30 at 4pm

Garden club has been busy over the Thanksgiving break! First, we went to Hillcrest Farmers’ Market to find plants and City Farmers to find soil. Then we had a planting day that ended with an afternoon of rain.  Perfect! Now we are ready to host the District Garden Meeting on Wednesday. All Garden Leaders and Club members are encouraged to join us. We’ll meet in the garden after school Wednesday at 2:45 to set up. The meeting starts at 4pm. See you all then!

 

 

Garden Work Day

Well, more like a work morning! We’ll meet up from 9-10am to water and weed the garden. Come by and help us if you are free!

Can anyone name this plant? It grows in my garden at home. Hint: you can take cuttings and plant them!