Written by: By Sarah Lewis
Jamie Woodhead

Reprinted here by permission of the authors.

(Note from sustainable-landscaping: I love school gardens. My first was in 2nd grade. I have had one almost every year since then, over 55 years. I am pleased to see any school bringing gardens into the curriculum – especially a University with a curriculum that features a personal ‘field-to-table’,  ‘in your plate’ relationship with your food. The article follows…)

August 26, 2010

Students plant, harvest on-campus garden

Eating locally grown food is now easier than ever for students at the University of Georgia. With the new campus community garden, students can harvest their own vegetables while learning gardening techniques.

Students share food harvested from the UGArden. Image credit: Sarah Lewis/ UGA.

UGArden, the UGA student group responsible for the garden on South Milledge Avenue in Athens, Ga., began harvesting vegetables in June. On Aug. 22, they held a fall kick-off featuring their produce. Students dined on potluck dishes they made with locally grown ingredients.

Participants in the group range from the experienced to those who have never planted a seed in the ground. With the help of UGA professors and the Athens Area Master Gardeners association, students learn how to properly tend a sustainable garden.

“Having a community garden is awesome,” said UGA student Ellen Bogswell. “We work for a couple hours and take home what we harvested. I haven’t had to buy veggies in weeks.”

Doug Bailey, head of the UGA horticulture department, believes the garden is important because it not only teaches good gardening practices but also social responsibility.

Students get to experience all the benefits of a local garden that provides fresh produce, he said.

A percentage of each harvest also goes to a local food bank. According to UGA student Jenny Brickman, co-president of UGArden, the group has so far donated 500 pounds of produce to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia.

UGA students attend a celebration for the campus UGArden. Image credit: Sarah Lewis/ UGA.

The students also noted that the produce tastes better.

“We live in Georgia, yet the vast majority of our peaches come from California,” said UGA junior Kate Klein. “Really, I think eating locally is important due to the transportation of food. Environmental degradation is a result of the transportation. Eating in season is also really important.”

Student interest in local food is growing, and this eating local bug is found at other universities in Georgia as well.

Emory University has eight small food gardens on campus maintained by faculty, staff, students and community neighbors. Brickman says they are a daily reminder to students about local food and where it comes from.

According to an Emory website, Emory’s goal is for the cafeterias and hospitals to use 75 percent of local or sustainably grown food by 2015.

Students enjoy food from the UGArden. Image credit: Sarah Lewis/ UGA.

Locally grown food is becoming increasing popular and is important for a number of reasons. Craig Page, a UGA master’s student and executive director of P.L.A.C.E (Promoting Agriculture and Cultural Experience), says local food is important environmentally – such as how and where it was grown and economically – because the profit stays in the community.

On a smaller scale, buying local food helps keep local farms in business.

“It’s also great health wise because it is fresh. It brings people together and allows them to connect, and it allows for food security,” Page said. “Just like with the egg recall, in case something happens to a delivery, the product is available locally.”

University food gardens are not the only way to get involved and support sustainability. According to Brickman, gardening at home, building community gardens and buying from local farmers’ markets are important in the local food effort.

(Sarah Lewis is a student writer with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Jamie Woodhead is a student writer with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)

Read more on the UGA website in: Environment | Lawn & Garden

Comment on This Story on the original UGA website

UC Cooperative Extension’s Yvonne Savio is Horticulturist of the Year 2010

Yvonne Savio, manager of the Urban Garden Program and Master Gardener coordinator for UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County, is the recipient of the Southern California Horticultural Society’s distinguished award, Horticulturist of the Year 2010.

The award has been presented since the 1950s to individuals and organizations for significant achievement and leadership in horticulture and gardening.  The intent of this year’s award is to highlight Savio’s efforts in advancing gardening as well as transforming lives through the encouragement of gardening for low-income residents of Southern California. Savio will receive the award at the society’s award banquet Sept. 9, 2010, at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.

“We are very proud of Yvonne’s work helping low-income residents of LA County grow their own food,” said Rachel Surls, UC Cooperative Extension county director. “Yvonne and her army of Master Gardener volunteers have helped thousands of Angelenos with limited resources become vegetable gardeners.”

Savio, who has been with UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles since 1994, is considered to be an expert in all things vegetable gardening in Los Angeles County. She revitalized the Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program in LA County, which is unique in California due to its mission to help low-income people grow their own food. Her volunteers, as well as numerous local residents, benefit from her seasonal gardening workshops and decades of experience.

In addition, Savio edited the third edition of “Children’s Gardens:  A Field Guide for Teachers, Parents and Volunteers,” the authority on how to start a children’s garden. Working with county residents, Savio oversees school and community garden programs in LA County, and recently, she has helped to spearhead a new and exciting gardening project, “Grow LA Victory Garden Initiative.”

Prior to UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles, Savio worked in the Botany and Vegetable Crops Cooperative Extension departments at UC Davis, and contributed weekly gardening columns, features and photographs to Northern California and national newspapers, magazines, journals and newsletters. She earned degrees in journalism, literature, art, photography and horticulture.

Currently, Savio lives in Pasadena with her husband, who is a travel writer and photographer. She loves growing vegetables, fruits, annuals and drought-tolerant perennials, cactus plants, succulents, bromeliads, ground covers and roses.

For more information on Cooperative Extension’s offerings in gardening and horticulture, see the LA County Common Ground Garden Program website.

As part of the University of California, Cooperative Extension was established in 1914 to connect local communities to their state’s land grant university.  An office in each county in California responds to the changing needs of its local populations, designing and carrying out research-based programs in the areas of food, health, agriculture, horticulture and the environment.

The Urban Garden Program, known locally as the Common Ground Garden Program, has been federally funded since 1976 to provide low-income residents of Los Angeles County with the skills they need to grow their own fresh vegetables.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE LOS ANGELES MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER TRAINING PROGRAM,

you must be on either or both of the elists of program priorities.  Please see below.

JOIN ONE OF YVONNE’S E-MAIL LISTS

If you live IN Los Angeles County

1)  Community Gardening and Food Security:  E-mail Yvonne Savio (ydsavio@ucdavis.edu) asking to be added to the “Community Gardening and Food Security–LA County Residents” e-mail list.
2)  School Gardening:  E-mail Yvonne Savio (ydsavio@ucdavis.edu) asking to be added to the “School Gardening–LA County Residents” e-mail list.

Everyone on the local version elists will automatically receive the November email announcement of the following year’s Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program for Los Angeles County residents only.  Deadline to request an application packet is January 15.  Deadline to submit the completed application packet – including LiveScan fingerprinting, background check and payment – is January 31.  Notifications, accepted or not, are sent out on February 15.  Class is every Saturday in March, April and May, from 9 am to 4 pm in our office.  Major criteria for acceptance include previous community service (not necessarily in gardening), passion to help low-income county residents grow and eat more nutritious vegetables, and initiative to network, establish and conduct projects.  If accepted into the program, you can miss only one class with prior arrangement.

If you live OUTSIDE Los Angeles County

3)  Community Gardening and Food Security: E-mail Yvonne Savio (ydsavio@ucdavis.edu) asking to be added to the “Community Gardening and Food Security–Non-LA County Residents” e-mail list.

4)  School Gardening: E-mail Yvonne Savio (ydsavio@ucdavis.edu) asking to be added to the “School Gardening–Non-LA County Residents” e-mail list.

Two young gardeners at work

These young gardeners seem to be enjoying their work day at school.

Super Mom Kelly Long, organizer, planner, and hard working builder!

Kelly Long spent many hours planning, arranging for and delivering materials for the project. Thanks  to her, the project went off without a hitch and we met our goal of 11 new garden beds.

Working together

Sometimes it is hard to find a project that parents and kids can both dig into – but this family is quite happy to share a task.

Another happy (and willing) worker

There were so many names I missed, but this lady was at it from start to finish and never slowed down, and that smile never left her face. I think she had a good time…

It was great to see the kids working along with the adults.

I love the way we  had the kids working with adults, and they kept up their end of the work. This is so much better than sitting in front of the TV…

Master Gardener Julian Hoyle gives a 'hand on' demo

Master Gardeners led a demonstration of soil preparation where participants learned valuable lessons on soil prep and watering practices.

"Get 'er done!" say these scouts.

These young men had a great day and accomplished a real day’s work without complaint. In fact, I think they rather enjoyed it.

A young lady working on soil prep

It wasn’t all boys who got to have fun that day. We had equal opportunities for girls to show their stuff. This young lady is preparing soil to receive the next garden box.

A Mother and Daughter team learning about sowing seeds

This mother and daughter team took part in the seeds sowing demo, and here are shown practicing what they have learned. These were beads they were planting for practice. This girl will be ready to start her seeds when schools opens.

A Young Scout at work building garden boxes

The scout troop was out in force, and they WERE a force in the day’s efforts

Young Builder at Work on the boxes

Some people (below and to the right) just showed up. This family is from out of state and got caught up in the moment. Thanks, guys!

Our Heros at the end of the day. Thank you one and all

Child Nutrition Bill Passes the Senate, Food Stamp Funding Takes Cut

August 6th, 2010  By Paula Crossfield

In a surprise move yesterday before heading out for five weeks of recess, the Senate passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act with unanimous consent, which means all 100 senators agreed to pass the bill without an individual vote. The bill allots an additional $4.5 billion dollars over ten years to fund federal child nutrition programs including school lunch.

First Lady Michelle Obama supported the bill as part of her Let’s Move campaign to fight childhood obesity, writing in an op-ed in The Washington Post last week,”This groundbreaking legislation will bring fundamental change to schools and improve the food options available to our children.”

Our first project was held at La Mariposa School in Camarillo, a school with a strong commitment to integrating gardening into the curriculum.

Here are some video and photos showing the work day at La Mariposa school in Camarillo. For more photos, please visit the school garden photos page.

La Mariposa Faculty, Master Gardeners, parents and students gather to learn and work

Many came simply to work, including an entire cub scout pack, and at the end of the magnificent day, we created 11 beds, built to good standards of workmanship, in place and partially filled with earth from the pathways. One remains to be assembled and will go in place on Dirt Day after the space is cleared.

No one was hurt, and everyone left smiling.

The school principal is mulling over paving options but whatever material he chooses, it will be permeable. It just has to conform to school codes.

The boys and girls had a great time and did a large portion of the work, perhaps not as efficiently as possible, but in a very up close and personal, not to mention ‘hands-on’, manner.

These scouts worked as a well coordinated team

Two Boys Work at Removing Sprinkler Heads

They cut the crown away to lay the boxes neatly in place. They eagerly moved earth from the aisles into the boxes. What a great day for them.

The boys from the scout troop where doing better than some of their dads at end of their day, and they all had smiles on their faces.

The boys I talked too were proud to have done real work that had a real physical result. It didn’t hurt that they earned points toward a Summer activity badge for taking part in two civic activities.

New Raised Garden Beds

Another parent said, “We are teaching our children the evolution from seed, to growth to harvest” .

Here’s an updated video showing the construction portion of the day. More photos have been added, thanks to Kamala Nahas…

Th first class is scheduled for July 31st, and will be held a La Mariposa School in Camarillo. The course is free, but volunteers attending are expected to help construct more gardens with the lessons they learn.

For more information, or to sign-up for this class, please visit sustainable-landscaping.net