Integrating gardens in our schools

I have completed the Service Learning with barely interacting with kids (my major is Elementary Education), but I will go during the following Saturdays so that I can enjoy and experience that engaging combination: kids and garden. I totally believe that every school should have a garden (as California did order in 1995), since gardening has a large amounts of benefits for the kids.

Working on a garden can make you consider how much effort needs success, the importance of the little details in life, the relationship with the environment and nature, and many factors that we could easily name here.

But, how can we integrate gardening in schools? I remember that we didn't have a garden in our school until I was 15 (I did my whole education -3 trough 18- in the same school), but I discovered that apart from little kids, problematic students also work there, as part of their redemption.

Besides, we went (and they still go) every year to farm-schools for a couple of days. These places are usually hostels in the middle of nature, with animals and garden, so that kids can experience diverse activities like making candles, feeding animals, planting fruits, interacting with animals, just to name a few.

I also found this two interesting contributions:

http://www.hort.vt.edu/HORT6004/network/schoolgardens.html

http://cesandiego.ucdavis.edu/Schlgrdn/Beds.html

What is your idea for the future?

Esparragos Cojonudos

Today I went to complete my Service Learning and we saw something surprising: a giant asparagus! I am not even exaggerating, it might be 11 inches tall on the surface. Is it natural? No pesticides and helpers? It's the BUGS so I totally know that the asparagus we saw is completely natural, but it reminded me of a happening back home.

The Southern part of the Basque Country is famous for its asparagus, specially the white ones. They are sold all over Europe and they proudly stick an etiquette where 'From Navarra' (the exact region) is written. The biggest company is Esparragos Cojonudos, which means 'Freaking Good Asparagus' in Spanish. They were very popular, since they discovered that they were actually from Congo! ! !

Unfortunately, this not only occurs with asparagus, but also with the famous oranges from Valencia, the energetic bananas from Canarias,... Land owners forget about one of the most important ideas in this field: being trustworthy and natural. But it is not a big surprise, since money affects everything.

For this reason, I recommend to buy local stuff, specially in markets. These fruit and vegetables would be so 'freaking good'.

My second big day, surrounded by potatoes

After missing two Saturdays at BUGS being sick for a while and running the Beat Pete race, I was happily back in this spot of Boise. It was a great morning, the good weather helped us to work continuously and even more motivated and we all were in a good mood.

Our duty that day was digging a long row of 6-inches deep, water it, place the cut potatoes and bury it. The task were easy and diverse, so that we weren't burnt-out at all. Besides, we were talking all the time between each other while we were working, and it was fun to get to know more Emma, Amber, Hailey, Megan, and the others.

Once I told what did we do this Saturday, I would like to concentrate on two topics: places famous for planting some sort of vegetables and volunteering.

I was born (and I lived my whole life) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country. This city is in a rural province called Araba, which is famous for its famous potatoes, too! It was really funny when I first got here and I saw in the driving plates the sentence 'Idaho, Famous Potatoes'.

I really like the idea of being famous for that, as long as we produce vegetables and we maintain traditional and healthy habits. In this days when the mass population is concentrated in cities, I dream about seeing people moving to small towns and start working, once again, in the orchards and farms. Maybe, in that way, we will become famous for the quality of our healthy life, not for a 'stupid' etiquette in our lives.

On the other hand, there were some volunteers from fraternities in the garden. Some of them they did spend a couple of hours over there, but the vast majority left in few minutes. Volunteering is really rewarding and beneficial, specially if it is full of commitment and not only related to the picture.

That's all for today, see you next time folks!

Ourselves, paying attention to Master Mike's word, while the sweaters were hanging in the sticks! Good time!

Our first contribution, not only physical effort

After spending my Spring Break in a nice trip in Portland and Seattle, it is time to go back in the time and remember that the break started nicely, as I did my Service Learning at BUGS.

We met as usually, around 10 am in the morning and after talking about the compost and the plans for this semester we got started with the main task: move the compost from the huge pile to the garden. After two hours of hard work, we were done and I have to admit that it was fun, as we were talking to each other, with great humor and time went by quickly.

This reminds me of my lazyness back in the days. I didn't understand why did we have to work to get our food as we can buy it. Now, I can totally see my relatives' extravagant motivation. As Mike (our Spartan great boss) said 'If you work hard and happy here, the plants will grow much better'. I thought that was a hippy mentality but I will do my best, I really want to see BUGS full of colors and live.

My Service-Learning

As I mentioned in the last entry, I signed up for BUGS in order to develop my Service Learning. After attending two orientations (they changed the staff recently) I know that I will be helping to get the garden ready before the kids start to place their dreams, hopes, and effort there while they plant trees, vegetables, and fruits and work with bees. Also, I will be working with them and that would be really rewarding as I am a Elementary Education major.

That is one of the reasons to sign up for this project but definitely, not the only one. Even though my parents grew up in farms, I didn't help them at all and I regret it. Now I would like to live in a similar place and get food for my family, so that I believe this would be a good start. Apart from that, there is another practical reason: the Boise Urban Garden School is one of the closest to the campus and as I don't have a car, this was a small help to choose one of the SL available.


During this semester, the hours spent over there will be extremely helpful to make my new 'wisdom' about food and agriculture solid, as I will be checking it myself. Also, I believe I will learn more about healthy habits, I say this because riding the bike to Franklin road every morning will remind me that it's not that difficult to avoid the car if you make some effort.

All in all, I hope this will be a great SL and I am looking forward to start working!

Welcome!

When we plant a tree with kids, we don't just grew a new oak-tree in a certain place; we are teaching these future men and women the importance of a green environment.

I will be doing my Service Learning at BUGS and I will be very happy to publish my experiences, thoughts and concerns using this lines.

Feel free to comment and contribute here.

Welcome everyone,

Beñat