I went on an amazing tour today. A formidable project taken on by a cast that includes Emily Green , Nancy Silverton and Nancy Goslee Power among others. The Garden School Foundation's work at the 24th Street Elementary School is an inspiration. Oh to dream of a day when all children can run and play and explore and LEARN in a school yard full of native plants, vegetables, and shade trees. So far only the staff parking lot has been turned over into a garden. A wonderful experimental area to see what works best for the kids, teachers, and community at large. Hard to believe that anyone would prefer a parking lot to this...
This project is to be a template for other LAUSD schools and I dream of bringing it to our neighborhood. A girl (mom, community and education activist, environmental optimist) can / should dream.
For more inpiration check out:
The Boston Schoolyard Initiative (How cool is this?!)
Treepeople (I have yet to be one but still plan on it!)
LADWP's Cool Schools program (A start...)
and of course Alice Water's famous Edible Schoolyard (The importance and success of this program, and it looks like the Garden School program is that there is an implemented plan for success. Not just planting and moving on...)
Is there anything like this happening in your community? I would love to learn more...
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Looking forward to sunny skies and getting some spring cleaning done before the rains start up again Sunday night... This week has flown by.
3 comments:
Thanks Maia!
Hi tracy, thanks for your comment on my blog. I was so thrilled to link to yours, I hadn't seen it before and it made me feel all homesick for California, especially when I read this post about the school. I used to go to summer school at Playmountain School (trees and veg and fun)in Venice in the 80's and my brother went there for a couple of years. Memories. Tired eyes, it's 4am here, but I will read your archives soon. Oh, just had another memory of going to Big Sur and finding a tiny tiny patch of snow about 3ft wide and being SO excited cause we missed snow so much. x
Garden School... I love it! All kids should have access to this.
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