A Day of Discovery at Oriole Park School Garden
Excitement radiated through the Oriole Park School Garden as eager children finally stepped into the octagonal oasis they had helped to plant and tend in May and June. Over the summer break the garden had transformed beyond recognition, now a symphony of sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos, inviting pollinators and students alike to partake in its […]
MSU Students Tour H.O.P.E. Gardens
The rain didn’t keep this group from MSU’s Organic Farmer Training Program from touring our garden at Kent ISD. As we strolled through the gardens they sampled cucamelons, borage, lemon basil, and Concord grapes. We shoveled soil from the regenerative garden to compare it with the soil outside of the garden and noticed threads of […]
New Garden Friends at Kent ISD
Upon discovering the established garden on the property of their new school building, Empower U students at Kent ISD expressed a keen interest in contributing. Julie Brunson, Executive Director of H.O.P.E. Gardens, extended an invitation for them to participate in our garden volunteer days. The endeavor proved to be a resounding success for everyone involved. […]
Senator Winnie Brinks Visits Our Garden
In a heartwarming show of support for nutrition education and food equity, Senator Winnie Brinks and her assistant, Kate Kooyman, recently visited the Gladiola Elementary School garden. This visit not only emphasized the value of hands-on nutrition learning but also demonstrated how school gardens have the potential to transform access to fresh, wholesome produce for […]
Kids Learn About Pollination and Beekeeping
4th-grade students at Grandville South Elementary learned the importance of pollinators as they examined flower parts under magnifying glasses and bee parts under microscopes. One student told our staff he was excited to use a microscope for the first time! Student volunteers tried on a beekeeper’s suit and helped demonstrate how to care for bees. […]
February is a Good Month for Garden Planning
. Kids in 39 Wyoming Public Schools STEAM Â classrooms, 7 Team 21 after-school programs, 2 classrooms at South Elementary in Grandville, and 4 classrooms at Countryside Elementary in Byron Center, all planned their summer gardens in February. They began by learning why planting a variety of fruits and vegetables helps protect the garden from being […]
Pinecones Are For The Birds
Our Team 21 kids at 10 schools in Wyoming used pinecones, shortening, and bird seed in January to make pinecone bird feeders to hang in their school gardens. Pine cones are the perfect vessel for a handmade bird feeder. Our feathered friends are getting a winter treat made by the hands of children. If you […]
Variety-The Spice of Life
In January we brought ‘Variety…The Spice of Life’ to 39 Wyoming Public School STEM classrooms. Students learned how eating a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables gives us a variety of the vitamins and minerals that make our bodies strong and healthy. We use MyPlate, which was created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, […]
Gardening in January in west Michigan? Yes!
This month we installed a regenerative, no-till school garden at Godfrey Early Childhood Center in Wyoming. We were greeted with sunshine as we engaged in the process of covering the ground with cardboard, paper, leaves, and mulch. Soon a blanket of snow will cover the layers causing them to break down and create a […]
Is it Dirt or is it Soil?
This month 850 students at 3 Wyoming schools learned that “soil” is the scientific name for the ground in their school garden. They discovered that soil has both living (organisms, decaying matter. air and water) and non-living (clay, sand, silt) parts and that it is the living parts that add important nutrients to our food. […]