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ECHO Community Gardens Newsletter - November
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November 2011
Unique Fall & Winter Veggies
 Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis: Yard Long Bean is a member of the pea family originated from southern Shina. Especially popular in Southeast Asia and becoming more popular in the Caribbean, it is grown as a vegetable. Yard long bean is a fun additionl to a community garden because of the novelty of its especially long bean pods (up to three feet long!).
 Pimpinella anisum: Anise is an herbaceous annual plant. It can grow up to three feet fall and is known for its sweet and very aromatic qualities. It has a licorice-like flavor. The seeds (used either whole or ground into a powder) are used in a variety of confectioneries (including black jelly bean!). Anise is a great addition to a community garden looking for a multi-sensory experience filled with great scents!
 Coriandrum sativum Apiaceae:The cilantro plant is a flavorful herb used for both its seeds (coriander) and its leaves (cilantro. This is a plant used in a wide variety of dishes. The seeds are ground and added into breads, cheeses, soups, and of course, curries. The leaves are used in soups, stews, salads, and dips. As an essential ingredient in salsa, the cilantro plant is a definite "must have" in any community garden "Salsa Bed," alongside the tomatoes, onions, and peppers!
What is growing in your garden this fall? Tell us about the unique vegetables you are growing by e-mailing Rebecca at rgarofano@echonet.org and you may be featured in our next newsletter issue!
Be Part of the Conversation!
You are a an integral part of not only the communities of Southwest Florida, but communities around the world. Though soils may be different, minds are no less passionate.
Enjoy this edition of the ECHO Community Gardens newsletter - sharing stories and garden ideas from unique agriculture projects of which you are a part.
POSTMARKED: Florida, USA
Classical Christian Academy Schoolyard Garden, North Fort Myers, Florida
Tiny raindrops fell upon their heads, but a little bit of precipitation didn’t stop the young gardeners at Classical Christian Academy. With quick feet and eager expressions, the twelve students in Mrs. Prechtel’s elective class erupted in exclamations of excitement over the emerging radishes in their garden.
One year ago, two raised box beds outside the school were full of weeds. Today, both beds are bursting with green vegetables and mulch! How did they do it? Classical Christian Academy created an elective class this year for students in Grades 1-4, called “God’s Green Earth,” an exploratory class where the students learn more about their environment and the relationships therein. With the creation of this garden, teachers were given a new outlet from which to communicate their lessons. So the whole school got involved! This September, Mrs. Prechtel’s class weeded each box then invited their peers to help move new soil on top. One box bed is now filled with top soil and compost, while the second box is filled with the actual bag of topsoil, cut open so that seeds can be planted in the bag itself. The excitement caught on and other teachers joined the class with their students for a school-wide "archaeology dig" while the new soil was added and artifacts uncovered—roots, insects, and the like!
The young scientists of God’s Green Earth class have designed and planted a variety of crops in their garden: peppers, tomatoes, and marigolds are growing strong; cranberry hibiscus and moringa have captured their attention. Several radishes and green beans have already been harvested twice this fall season and the students look forward to harvesting more in the weeks to come. Mrs. Prechtel shares that meeting once a week also has a few challenges. Watering is the main obstacle, which she takes care of with the help of student volunteers multiple times per week. Red cabbage, broccoli and banana peppers are soon to emerge and will become a fresh treat for each student to share at home with their family. It’s education inside and outside—experiential, multisensory, and inviting. Don’t you just want to dig in?
While the bright colors of the leaves of swiss chard are growing, the students of God’s Green Earth class believe their project is unique in that it involves everyone in their school. Most recently, they have started to develop a butterfly garden as the students, school-wide, learn about insects, animals, plants, humans, and their relationship to our environment. It all started with milkweed plants, then caterpillars, now chrysalises, and soon butterflies - just next to the vegetable beds in the school garden; what a setting!
From lessons inside the classroom to the hard work of filling each bed with soil and mulch, Mrs. Prechtel finds her teaching opportunity most rewarding when the students are captivated by what’s growing in front of them. She recommends getting other teachers and parents involved in building enthusiasm for any schoolyard garden project; she also mentions that a lack of supplies should not discourage you from believing in the possibilities. Their garden has been planted in soil bags inside a box frame! It has also been most helpful for her to plan ahead of time and start seedlings before the class begins a semester—this way your students will be able to see a harvest from their diligent labor.
Postmarked: Honduras, Central America
Loma De Luz, Belfate, Honduras
 Four-hundred moringa trees filled the back of a truck; not one tree was left at the end of the afternoon. That’s how a slightly shocked and excited Brad Ward described families involved in a Honduran schoolyard garden program, as they proudly carried moringa away, ready to plant the nutritious tree. Brad explains that the community’s excitement for planting these trees grew out of a unique relationship between their local school garden projects and hospital.Brad Ward has been working for the “Loma De Luz” hospital in Belfate, Honduras since 2008. While facilitating an agriculture project to support a 30-bed hospital in a rural community on the northern coast of the country, Brad became involved in four different afterschool programs. Pairing his interest in agriculture and desire to work more closely with these schools, Brad started coordinating schoolyard gardens at the four locations in 2009.  What’s a week like for a coordinator like Brad? Brad visits each of these schools approximately once a week (one of which is a three hour walk away). “Garden club” meetings involve 30-40 children, a ten-minute lesson, and approximately a half hour of working in the garden. As schools are a public gathering place for these Honduran communities, schoolyard gardens provide an ideal platform for students and families to learn about growing food and develop problem-solving skills. The program has learned from its own mistakes as it has grown (after its first year, the group decided to simplify their efforts grow only plantain, papaya, and moringa) and experienced both challenges and successes (some schools have taken to the project more than others).
One of the more exciting stories to emerge from this project involves the Loma De Luz hospital. When doctors heard about the many benefits of moringa for malnourished individuals (especially children and pregnant women), the hospital began prescribing a powder made from the leaves. Where did they turn to purchase moringa? The four schoolyard gardens! At ten dollars a kilo (1 kilo = 2.2lbs!) of dried moringa leaves, selling moringa to the local hospital has become a small income generating project for the schools. One of the schools was able to purchase a ceiling fan with their proceeds! While discussing future plans for the gardens, Brad details his hopes to focus more on perennial plants as a resource for the school (such as chaya and katuk). His idea of giving opportunities for older children to become “master gardeners” is another future idea; older students could become more involved as they begin to teach younger students in the schoolyard garden.
What advice would Brad give to other schoolyard gardens? When asked this question, Brad immediately responded “Start small!” When starting their own gardens at the school, Brad shared of how he looked at mature, well established gardens and assumed that their school gardens should also start with large plots. Brad explained that after the first year, they realized they had started with too much ambition and needed to scale back to a more manageable size. Brad encourages groups to learn from the lesson he realized, to start first with container gardens, focusing efforts on starting a few plants, and building efforts from that foundation.From a small town in Honduras to the schoolyards of North Fort Myers, Brad Ward’s work shows that there are an abundance of exciting stories and important lessons to share and apply to each of our community gardens.
Inspired by these stories?
Check out the ECHO Community Garden Assistance Program!
ECHO Community Garden Assistance
Garden Connections: Resources & Thoughts
Community Garden Transitions
Introducing... Rebecca Garofano!
With fall and winter planting seasons well underway, it’s a time of exciting transition for the ECHO Community Gardens Initiative! ECHO staff are excited for Katie Johnson, our current Community Gardens Intern, as she prepares for a field internship position with the nonproft organization, American Foundation for Children with Aids. She will be working in Kenya on a small agricultural project that will work with a local health clinic to facilitate a program to grow nutritious food to support those impacted by HIV/AIDS. ECHO is looking forward to seeing the insight and enthusiasm Katie will bring to this project!
ECHO is also pleased to welcome Rebecca Garofano as the next Community Gardens intern. Rebecca studied Sociology and International Development at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is a recent transplant from Buffalo, New York, where she facilitated healthy homes programs for a nonprofit housing organization. Rebecca is excited to reside and work at ECHO and shares that she is looking forward to “learning from the abundance community garden projects and supporting the incredible work that community residents are doing in Southwest Florida!”
Community Garden Toolkit
A new resource! The ECHO Community Garden TOOLKIT is now at your fingertips. We hope this guide will motivate you to discover the diversity of resources available within your community to meet the felt needs of your community, as well as promote inter-cultural understanding of issues regarding hunger, poverty, and justice in sustainable agriculture around the world.
Download the Toolkit here.
Classroom Focus: Concerned about Hunger?
Helpful resources from FLAG (Florida Ag in the Classroom)!
“Gardening for Grades” is a comprehensive guide for Florida teachers to help plan, fund, create and learn with a school garden! ECHO has a copy of this curriculum in its library. If you would like to schedule a time to access these resources, please email the Community Gardens Intern, Rebecca Garofano at rgarofano@echonet.org!
You Share!
Garden thoughts from the boxes, tires, and raised beds of our community.
What is growing well in your community or schoolyard garden? What beneficial insects are making their home among your crops? What have you harvested so far this season? We would love to hear your thoughts! Write to Rebecca, at rgarofano@echonet.org, and your project ideas may be included in our next edition of Postmarked!
Curious? Learn more about ECHO projects and research here:
'Postmarked' is an electronic newsletter created by Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization to connect, share, and celebrate the efforts, ideas, and challenges of students, teachers, and community members involved in community gardens in the United States and around the world.
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