Sheila Cahill will start a garden club after school hours. Wendy Chisholm and students in the Excel after school program already help maintain the ornamental garden and container boxes. They will work with Sheila growing, experimenting, exploring, and having fun in the garden. All students are welcome to join!
Contact Sheila Cahill at sheilacahill@gmail.com for more information.
There has been a lot of activity in the garden over the past month. Some students brought seeds and cuttings from home to plant in the containers. Others transplanted class projects and will be able to see the plants complete a life cycle for the first time.
Projects Completed in September & October
Thank you to David Bouche, Sheila Cahill, Riz Gauche, Miri Kim, Sean Lynch, Joe Meyer, and Sam Tonroy for coming on the September 25th Garden Build Day. They were able to finish the shed, amend soil in the existing containers, and build new ½ barrel containers to provide more space to accommodate the growing student population.
As this is only the second growing season for the garden, the goal for this semester is simple – to grow plants to maturity. Over the past two weeks, most of the classes have sowed seeds, transplanted flowers and root tops in their containers. Thank You to Wendy Chisholm, Karen Franklin, Julie Kessler, Katy Nelson, Dana Pluck, Julie Tonroy, and Suzanne Walsh for helping the students plant seeds!
Seeds have already germinated in Ms. Yee’s and Ms. Plack’s containers. If all goes well the students will harvest and eat their vegetables in December. The classes will also harvest seeds to be planted during the next growing season.
Fall Semester Projects
Compost Bin - The bin will be constructed during the October 24th CCG build day. Students will compost snack scraps to support the container gardens, which require more amendment than gardens grown directly in the ground. Composting will also give students a more complete picture of ecology as a whole system.
Vermiculture Bins – Worm bins are another way to expose students to the entire life cycle. Over time, the students will see the worms break down paper towels and food scraps – creating nutrient rich soil amendment. Worm offspring will be added to the garden containers and the worm castings will be used to “brew” compost tea.
Goals for 2010
The garden program welcomes any ideas you have. Some projects may take longer to implement, but like all gardens ours needs a little time and TLC to grow. Please contact Cathy Meyer at mulkeymeyer@ att.net if you would like to become more involved.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Thanks to Sunnyside students for their enthusiasm for the garden!
Thanks to Sunnyside teachers for participating in the seed-germination activities last week and for their interest in the garden. Thanks especially to Kindergarten teacher Leah Plack, a strong supporter of the garden from day 1.
Thanks to Principal Nancy Schlenke for her support of and advocacy for the garden effort.
Thanks to the Green Schoolyard Alliance of SFUSD for its support of our garden effort and donation of 3 planter beds. Thanks to San Francisco ReBuilding Together for the donation of 3 planter beds.
Thanks to Lowe’s of South San Francisco for its generous Toolbox grant to launch our garden.
Thanks to Reva Bhatia for using her grant-writing mojo in the garden effort.
Thanks to Sloat Garden Center for organic seed donations (and to Cathy Meyer for making it happen).
Thanks to Sam Tonroy for designing a planter bench that will serve Sunnyside kids for years to come.
Thanks to Kim Kreis for creating the beautiful wall poster in the school’s entryway and thanks to Greg Chisolm for hanging it so securely.
Thanks to Sanjay of Bayview Green Waste Management for donations of truckloads of warm, sweet-smelling compost/soil that filled our planter boxes (and Sam Tonroy for making it happen).
Thanks to Sam Tonroy, Joe Meyer, and Sean Lynch for building a beautiful, redwood planter-bench prototype, soon to be replicated at our next garden work day, Saturday, March 21.
Thanks to Cathy Meyer for planning, organizing, and executing the seed germination activities in the classrooms.
Thanks to folks who helped assemble the seed-germination kits during the Feb. 21st garden work day: Troy (Wes’ dad), Mike Tzortzes, PTA Prez Kari Gray and her lovely son, and Ellen Cox.
Thanks to parents who volunteered in the classrooms for the seed-germination activities: Cathy Meyer, Eric Westby, Kristie, Julie Tonroy, Kelly Kocella, Karen Franklin, Ellen Cox, Kari Gray, and Wendy Chisholm.
Thanks to teachers Leah Plack and Kit Bell for opening the school up early on Saturday mornings for perhaps overly-enthusiastic parents.
Thanks to Mr. Yee for locking up the school after the Feb. 21st work day.
Thanks to Jenny Isenberg and Amy Nelson for making a cash donation to the garden effort.
Thanks to Jenny Isenberg, Lynda (Wesley’s mom), and Karen Franklin for taking photographs to document the garden effort.
Thanks to Sunnyside PTA for its support and resources.
An enormous thanks to Cathy Meyer, who has given so much of her time, enthusiasm, and ideas to the garden effort with no indication of slowing down anytime soon!
I hope I didn’t forget anyone!
What’s coming next:
Saturday, March 21: Garden Work Day
We will need many hands to build planter benches, create planting kits for students to transplant seedlings into garden plots, do container gardening, and more. Principal Schlenke will be hosting a SFUSD information session for incoming K parents who did not get any of their lottery choices from Round 1, so please come and let Sunnyside shine! More details to come.
Week of March 23: Transplanting Seedlings into Planter Boxes
Volunteers are needed to help teachers and students transplant their seedlings into the garden plots.
Would you like to join an exciting project to create an “outdoor classroom” for our kids? (Green thumb not necessary.) The garden committee has met twice now to discuss ideas and options for creating a learning garden at Sunnyside. We are a motivated group of parents and teachers, and we invite you to join us in any or all phases of planning, constructing, and maintaining Sunnyside’s future garden.
What can you do to support the garden initiative?
1. volunteer, big or small: you can take on a key position or take on a simple task. We’ll be posting lots of tasks that can be completed easily and quickly for parents who want to help but don’t have a lot of time to invest.
2. register and attend “how to” school garden workshops October 11 at the Green Schoolyard Alliance Fall Conference: www.sfgreenschools. org.
3. make a donation to pay for a teacher to attend the conference
4. let us know if you have special skills to contribute: carpentry, horticulture, construction, grantwriting, etc.
Call or email for more information or to share your ideas. Thank you!
First, a HUGE thank you to Reva for getting our first grant proposal out to Lowe’s! Crossing fingers.
And thank you to Sam Tonroy for drafting a plan for a garden box “prototype.” We have presented it to Ms. Schlenke. She confirmed that we could use the space along the fence for the first boxes and has gotten approval from the School District for us to take out the benches.
We are aiming to have a prototype garden bed built and ready for planting by Thanksgiving. We will use the $1K PTA seed money to do this along with lots of volunteer labor! Thank you PTA! Dates to be determined but we’re thinking early November.
-Sheila
