Free Seminar on How to Start a Community Garden

Saturday, January 23 from 10:00AM – 11:30AM at the USC Green Quad.
Visit http://www.greenquadcommunity.org for a map & directions.
Please e-mail craigd@mailbox.sc.edu or call 803-777-1994 to reserve your seat for this free seminar to be held at the Green Quad Learning Center for Sustainable Futures University of South Carolina.
This is the first in a series of informative sessions and visits to community gardens in the Midlands. This first seminar addresses the benefits of a community garden for the individual, the community and the environment presented by Carrie Draper of South Carolina Fair Share. Ryan Nevius, a Richland County Master Gardener and Project Director of Sustainable Midlands will present the steps to successfully plan and launch a community garden. Although there will be no actual gardening at this seminar, there will be a tour of the Green Quad Community Garden and orchard.
Sustainable Midlands is a coalition of organizations in the Midlands of SC that are committed to the concepts of building sustainable communities and improving the air and water quality.
The Green Quad Learning Center for Sustainable Futures is a one-story building in the middle of the Green Quad. The Quad is located south of Wheat Street, between Main and Sumter. There is a walkway through the middle of the Quad running between Main and Sumter, and the entrance to the Learning Center is off the walkway among four palmetto trees.
The Learning Center serves as a model and advocate for sustainability on campus and in the larger community and promotes collaborative relationships among students, faculty, staff and community members for exploring the changes required to create a sustainable society.

Welch's Harvest Grant!

As a family farmer-owned company that is proud to grow and nurture grapes, Welch’s is sponsoring the 2010 Welch’s Harvest Grant in partnership with Scholastic to foster educational efforts promoting the value of sustainable agriculture and healthy eating. Recognizing that gardens provide a dynamic setting for learning, the grant program will provide gardening supplies to 100 schools nationwide to help them grow their own fruit and vegetable gardens.
The Welch’s Harvest Grant is open to classrooms throughout the United States that plan to use gardens to teach students about nutrition and sustainable agriculture. Two winning schools will be selected from each state. Five schools will receive $1,000 awards; 25 schools will receive $500 awards; and 70 schools will receive $250 awards. Winning schools may choose an indoor or an outdoor gardening package. Both contain a variety of tools, seeds, and educational materials, enabling entire school communities to connect with nature and better understand the origins of their food supply. Deadline for application submission is February 6, 2010. For complete details, official rules, and to see if your child’s school qualifies to enter, visit: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752777

Gardening Application for your Phone!

There was a short blurb of an article in the Greenville paper last weekend talking about gardening applications for your phone. These apps can be really helpful when you're trying to identify pests and problems in your garden. Here's a link to a Windows Mobile program that will give you a sense of what all you can find on these gardening applications!! http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/totalaccess/columns/windows-mobile-gardening.mspx

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture and Hugh Weathers, Commissioner, announce the recipients of the 2010 Eat Smart, It’s in the Garden Mini-Grant program to start or improve a school vegetable garden.
The nine recipients of a $1,000 grant are: Holly Springs Elementary, Pickens; Gray Court-Owings Elementary, Gray Court; Ford Elementary, Laurens; Okatie Elementary, Beaufort;

Nevitt Forest, Anderson; York Technical College, Rock Hill;

Summit Drive Elementary, Greenville; Stone Academy, Greenville; and Hendersonville Elementary, Walterboro.
The 2009 grant recipients will also continue their school garden programs with $500 grants at their respective schools, as well as serving as mentors and resources for the nine new grant recipients. The mentors are: Pontiac Elementary, Elgin; Central Child Development Center, Rock Hill; Mellichamp Elementary, Orangeburg; Birchwood Middle School, DJJ and Pauline-Glenn Springs, Pauline.
The Eat Smart, It’s in the Garden mini-grant program is a partnership between the non-profit Eat Smart, Move More SC and the S.C. Department of Agriculture that encourages schools to incorporate school gardens, healthy eating habits and agricultural appreciation into their school communities. The grant period runs from January 1 to June 30, 2010.

New Garden at the Anna Boyd School

Great success story about a school garden at the Anna Boyd School : http://www.thestate.com/local/story/1071330.html This community garden is made possible primarily through the efforts of two gardening volunteers Clarence McNeil and Irma Smith-Lowman. Can't wait to see what they grow this coming Spring!!

Barnwell Ag Ed Program Awarded Hydroponics Grant!

The Barnwell County Career Center Agricultural Education Department was recently awarded a “Hooked On Hydroponics” grant through the National Gardening Association. The grant is funded by The Grow Store in conjunction with the Progressive Gardening Association.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in nutrient solutions (water containing fertilizers) with or without the use of an artificial medium (sand, gravel, vermiculite, sawdust and others). Most hydroponic operations are housed in greenhouses, which allows for greater control of growing variables, and can lead to more efficient growing practices, including conservation of water and great control of fertilizer run-off.
“The grant will be used to purchase hydroponic equipment needed to install this unique method of gardening on our campus,” said Mindy Sandifer, Agricultural Education instructor at the center. “This was my first attempt at submitting a grant proposal and I look forward to using the funds to make hydroponics an integral part of our plant science curriculum,” she added.
Amanda Wiggins, Grants Administrator with the National Gardening Association, said the proposal was chosen for the award because the application demonstrated clear educational goals and commitment to helping students gain hands-on experience with the joys and wonders of gardening.

Nominations for Outstanding Educator Award!!

The South Carolina Farm Bureau Women's Committee evaulates and presents an award to the an outstanding educator in South Carolina based upon his or her teaching programs incorporating agriculture into their classroom curriculum. Teachers working with Kindergartners through the 8th grade are eligible for consideration. The nominee must have designated and implemented a lesson/unit/project about the food and fiber industry within the last school year (August – June). For more information about this award, please visit: http://scfb.org/getinvolved/agintheclassroom/bettyjdewittoutstandingeducatoraward.aspx

or contact Vonne Baker.