www.KidsGardens.com

At http://www.kidsgardens.com/ , they can design, install, and maintain children's edible organic garden for individual homes, schools, hospitals, and day care centers. Senior centers too! Check out some of the gardens they have already built and the work that they are doing with the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry!!

Children's Museum of the Lowcountry

Check out all of the great children's gardening and healthy eating activities and classes being offered this June at the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry by visiting: http://www.explorecml.org/Classes.asp

It is our pleasure to introduce Joann Minder as our guest blogger from June 1st – June 5th. Joann serves as the health communications coordinator within the Division of Obesity Prevention & Control and is experienced in the success story writing process.

Title: Showcasing your Successes --“How to Prepare for Your Presentation”

With the growing demand for positive outcomes and the competition for funding dollars, it is more important than ever to let others know about your accomplishments. A success story is a wonderful way to highlight the accomplishments of your school garden.
You cannot always rely on the media to communicate the great things you are doing within your schools and communities. It is up to you.

A success story is a concise one-page story that is used to highlight your program or project’s accomplishments. Simple straightforward language and bullets are used to make the story reader-friendly and appealing to a wider audience. The framework for success stories is outlined below. The bulleted questions are to help guide your thinking as you determine what to write. Some questions may or may not be applicable.

Why do we need Success Stories?
Success stories are a tool that can be used as a way to:
Share your triumphs with the public, community, decision makers and the media
Show accountability to stakeholders, the public, and funders
Present the framework for a report on your project/program
Prepare talking points for presentations

What are the components of a Success Story?
Your success story framework should contain four components; issue, intervention, impact, and lessons learned.

Issue-What is the problem? Why did you start the school garden?
Create an emotional hook painting a picture of the problem using personal situations.
Who was at risk?

Intervention-What were the solutions or the ways you addressed the problem?
Who carried out the project/program?
When did it occur?
Where did it take place?
Who was served?
How was it carried out?

Impact-What were the specific outcomes?
What differences did it make?
How many people did the intervention impact?
What changes occurred?

Lessons Learned -What are the lessons learned from your program or project?
What were your challenges and how did you address?
What advice would you give others who want to replicate?

F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” A success story is a great way to say what you have to say.

Please post any comments or questions to let me know how I can help you to showcase your school garden success!

Riverbanks Zoo Garden Programs

Every Saturday from 11:00am until 1:00pm the Riverbanks Zoo Botanical Garden hosts free gardening demonstrations! Activities for children include explorations in vine-covered tunnels and tepees in the Play Garden as well as Garden Scavenger Hunts. All of the activities provide kids with the opportunity to learn interesting facts about a variety of plants and some crawly creatures! More information about the Riverbanks Garden Programs can be found at the address below and don't forget that you need to pre-register for all of the activities! We hope to see you there!

http://www.riverbanks.org/education/garden.shtml

Take the Palmettovore Challenge!

The South Carolina Legislature has declared June 2009 as Palmettovore Challenge Month! All South Carolinians are encouraged to join this statewide group that is committed to eating locally grown foods and increasing their support of Certified SC Grown. Participants in the program should also consult the SC Produce Availability Calendar in order to be aware of the best times to purchase certain fruits and vegetables in the state. This calendar will also be resourceful when developing your garden! It can be used to optimize produce selection throughout the year in your school or community garden! Please visit the link below for access to the SC Produce Availability Calendar.

http://agriculture.sc.gov/UserFiles/file/PDFS/harvestcalendar1108.pdf

Become a Palmettovore!

What is a Palmettovore? It is someone who eats fresh South Carolina produce and products as their primarly source of food! This is the latest phase of the S.C. Department of Agriculture's Certified SC Grown marketing program. What a fun way to encourage kids to eat a variety of products grown in South Carolina and thinking about their local economies. For more information, please visit: http://www.palmettovore.org/

Mellichamp Elementary

Mellichamp Elementary School in Orangeburg has successfully kicked off their garden! These 1st graders have planted tomatoes, squash, zucchini, some herbs, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and watermelons! WOW! The children were very excited to tell us about their garden and are looking forward to trying these vegetables in person. They are also gathering recipes for a cookbook collection feature all of their favorite SC vegetable dishes!! Great job!!!