Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Seed Starting with Mini Greenhouses!

For the most part, starting plants from seeds is fairly easy...however, sometimes seeds need a little extra nurturing.  A solution is to use a homemade DIY mini greenhouse!

You can start with any container, so long as it has draining holes.  Fill the container with your favorite seed-starting soil and leave about an inch of room at the top.  Sow and water your seed.  Then, cover your container with some plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band.  The plastic should be removed as soon as the seed sprouts!



Enjoy :) 

(DIY idea taken from a blog on Kitchen Gardeners International:  http://kgi.org/blog/davehames/seed-starting-mini-greenhouses)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Upcoming School Gardens Webinar on APRIL 15!!!

Webinar 4/15

Skills of a Successful School Garden Coordinator A new posting from The edWeb Team (edWeb.net)

Join us for the next Growing School Gardens webinar!
Skills of a Successful School Garden Coordinator Monday, April 15, 2013- 4pm / Eastern Time
In This Session

What skills are required to manage a successful school garden program?

Join us for our community's next webinar when Sam Ullery, School Garden Specialist at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in Washington, DC will outline a framework of skills that contribute to a well-managed, effective school garden program. This framework can be used as a guide for your school garden program to help you to take full advantage of your school garden as an outdoor classroom. Additionally, two DC school garden coordinators will provide concrete examples of how putting these skills into practice has positively impacted their school garden programs. Join Sam Ullery, Kate Lee, and Kealy Rudersdorf on April 15 to learn the skills required to manage a successful school garden program.

To Participate in the Live Session

- Login at www.instantpresenter.com/edwebnet11 at the scheduled time.

- There is no pre-registration for this event.

- This webinar will be recorded and archived in this community for viewing at anytime.
About the Presenters

Sam Ullery is the School Garden Specialist at the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s Division of Wellness and Nutrition. Sam has six years of inner city high school science teaching experience where he challenged students to engage in the food system through gardening. In his current role, Sam collaborates with garden-based organizations to ensure the 80-plus DC school gardens receive the technical support, training, and resources needed to continue to engage youth in garden-based learning. Sam also serves as the co-president of the DC Schoolyard Greening Committee.
Kate Lee holds a degree in Horticulture from the Univ. of Georgia and has 5 years of experience in urban farming. As owner and head grower Capital City Farm Co., an urban micro-farming business, Kate works with schools, non-profits, and residents around Washington, DC developing garden programs, growing vegetables, and educating future gardeners. Her skills also include drip irrigation installation, compost management, and beekeeping.

Kealy Rudersdorf is DC Greens’ Garden Educator at Stoddert Elementary.

She teaches garden-based lessons in the spring and fall with the students, leads community open times in the garden during the summer, and provides environmental-based science lessons during the winter.

Kealy has a B.S. in Civil Engineering and a M.A. in Teaching, and has earned a LEED accreditation and a certificate in permaculture design.

In addition to working with DC Greens, Kealy helps to manage two farmers’ markets.

This program is co-hosted by edWeb.net and the National Farm to School Network.

Follow us on Twitter @edWebnet to learn about upcoming webinars and special events!


Third Annual Nutrition Symposium

On March 29th, University of South Carolina's Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, held their third annual Nutrition Symposium. This year's confrence was Healthy Eating in Context: Bridging Gaps, Linking Communities. Farm to School and SC School Gardens were community exhibitors.

We were so pleased to have so many attendees interested in Farm to School and SC School Gardens.  One graduate student told us school gardens is the topic of her Master's thesis!

We had a great time and look forward to participating again next year!