Amazing Volunteer Week

Last week was a busy week in the gardens as we hosted 3 large group events. Employees and students from Wells Fargo, Haas School of Business, and Blueprint Research & Design performed almost 100 hours of volunteer labor as we built worm bins and compost bins, dug new beds, and completed some general garden work. This was a fantastic start to our new composting initiative as we are on track to build new compost bins, worm bins, and compost sifters in all 7 of our sites in the next few months. Thank you so much for your time and energy, it's always so great to welcome new folks into the gardens.











To bring your group out Click Here

Thank you, Yahoo! for a HUGE boost to our composting efforts!

Read on Yahoo!'s blog about this great compost project they funded for us, as part of their Purple Acts of Kindness.

Composting at Ida B. Wells

Students at Ida B. Wells are beginning to see themselves as part of the nutrient cycle. Rather than throwing out all food wastes, we're taking discarded scraps from the school's cooking class and returning them back to the earth in the form of compost.



Last month, Mr. Hannon's class, our volunteers, and Urban Sprouts intern, Kevin, pitched in to build compost bins at Ida B. Wells. Instead of buying all new materials for the bins, we decided to recycle wooden pallets, which are usually tossed out after only one use.




We sat down to cut up compost materials the following week to speed up the decomposition process. We have yet to reach the 3' x 3' x 3' volume needed to really get our pile going, but we're slowly adding yard waste from our garden and organic food scraps from the Ida B. Wells kitchen. In the end, we hope to harvest compost to enrich our soil and help our garden flourish!

Message from the Youth

This year in the Summer Program we've taken our curriculum to the next level -- more interactivity and almost no sitting still! We've turned group discussions into opportunities for creativity, drama, music, and lots of role-playing to practice sharing what we learn here with our friends and family at home.

Today, youth taught each other about the 3 R's (reuse, reduce, recycle) through different written formats, which they then performed dramatically!

The crowd-favorite team (the Pink Panthers) composed a love letter to a garbage collector. (That's "Oscar" in the foreground reacting to his letter, as "Cordelia" reads aloud to the audience what she has written.)

Dearest Oscar (The Grouch),

My love, it is with great sadness that I write you this. Despite the beautiful times we shared, when I would bring you my empty chip bags and old DVDs, it is time our affair came to a close. Much as I adore you, I'm due to marry the head of the recycling plant next week. And the truth is, he lives a cleaner, more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Don't take this the wrong way. The times we shared will never be replaced. It's not you baby, it's the waste.

Always yours truly,
Cordelia Compost

P.S. Please don't be grouchy.

The runner-up team (Yellow Canaries) wrote a text message conversation between a Plastic Bottle and the Ocean:

PB: What's up, Pacific?
W: Nutn much, Geyser.
PB: Guess what?
W: What! What? What?
PB: Some dude drank ma stuff! I'm hella mad! Can I get a refill?
W: Na bruh! U and ur friends wrecked ma house last time u came. U ain't welcome here no more.
PB: Not even! That was Aquafina!
W: It don't matter ur all the same!
PB: Fine I'll go talk to Atlantic! Meany!
W: Deuces!

Permaculture & Pears at ISA

I just got back from an inspiring morning at Mary Ann's Gardening Seminar at International Studies Academy (ISA). This class is 90 minutes all devoted to gardening! Today, students read an article on the importance of Compost, and wrote a short essay in response. Then, they went outside and worked on three projects in their magical garden site. This spot has so much potential!

Shaun guest-starred today and helped one group of students to dig a trench, part of the system of swales for the hillside. Guided by Permaculture principles, this technique will prevent erosion and conserve the water that runs down the hillside when it rains. Swales will divert the water via the natural curves of the hill, towards plants instead of straight into the storm drain. Diverting water from storm drains saves the city a lot of headaches, too (you're welcome, SF!).

Another group weeded this planter box of artichokes, while others pruned the squash patch and gathered fallen and trimmed branches. They began building a compost pile, with neat layers of green material (fresh, juicy and nitrogen-rich) alternating with layers of browns (dried, crunchy, carbon-rich). Once our friendly decomposers attack this pile, we'll be set with rich natural fertilizer for the spring.

After all that hard work, we enjoyed some tasty Barlett Pears from the Farmers' Market. Delicious!

Summer Program Last Day Party!

The last day of the Summer Program we hosted our most successful Garden Party yet! Youth participants in the program invited their families, friends and teachers to visit the Garden for the Environment and see all the amazing work the youth have done!! More than 75% of youth brought family to the garden - this is HUGE, compared to the less than 10% turnout we usually get for our garden parties during the school year. Teachers from MLK Middle School and June Jordan attended, as did Ross Mirkarimi, District 5 Supervisor.

What incredible work did the youth showcase at the Garden Party? Well, the youth taught us about . . .

Soil Health: John and Julius showed parents how to save seeds from native plants at the GFE and to sow them in window boxes and home gardens. John gathered the seeds from the garden himself - he learned how to identify mature seed pods ready to be harvested!

Families took home seeds to grow swiss chard, native Hooker's Evening Primrose, and Foxgloves. You can buy window boxes like the ones we used at your local Cole Hardware, or make them from scrap wood like old dresser drawers!

Eating Healthy at Home: Muawattia, Andre, Delvin and Suzi harvested and prepared veggie stir-fry with rice for everyone, and served it up hot! Everyone enjoyed those fresh and healthy greens.

This group also made a poster listing these ways we can all make healthier choices:

• Exercise and eat healthy including: bananas, strawberries, greens, apples, sweet peas, collard greens
• Choose whole food over processed food. Why? Because you will know what is in your food that can help you and not kill you slowly.
• Replace sweets with another kind of healthy food.
• Check Food Labels before you buy foods.
• You should have no more than 48 grams or 12 teaspoons of sugar in one day.

Where Our Food Comes From: Ellie, Walter, Angel and their group compared the environmental impact of a locally grown orange to the impact of buying orange juice grown in Florida or Brazil, which is shipped, processed and shipped again, using petroleum resources all the way.

They calculated that a local orange grown in Fresno travels 187.55 miles to you, while orange juice travels from 2,948 to 10,000 miles, depending if it is grown in Florida or Brazil.

The group gave us this statistic, from the CA Center for Public Health Advocacy, and they introduced us to the San Francisco Local Foods Wheel, a beautiful tool that tells you what locally-grown foods you can buy here and when they are in season.

Zero Waste: Last but certainly not least, Oscar, Alex, Ahmed and Kochise taught all the visitors how to divert waste from the landfill by recycling at home! They gave out green kitchen pails and the phone numbers to call to get your green bin and blue bin set up at home, so the City can collect your recyclables and compostables. Even more exciting, they gave out home worm bins and taught families how to compost food scraps without the waste even leaving home.

We ventured into the GFE's deep, dark worm bin to dig some fat, shiny red wrigglers for the visitors to take home. We even saw a couple of mating pairs!!

The youth did such an AMAZING job teaching their families all about the garden. They gave tours, showed off the beds they planted, tasted, smelled and touched the now familiar plants with their younger siblings, and had fun in this beautiful green outdoor space.

A HUGE Thank You to all the youth and their families who participated in the Summer Program and our Last Day Garden Party. Thanks a MILLION to the wonderful youth staff (Claire, Ellie, Julius, Oscar and Antoine) who made it happen!!

We at Urban Sprouts are SO VERY appreciative of our partnership with the Garden for the Environment and the opportunity to work with Suzi and Blair! Thank you!!

For more photos of the Summer Program, click here.

parents
youth garden
compost
nutrition
local food
zero waste