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Youth Gardening Program Closes Doors Due to Lack of Funding

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Child Harvesting Her Own Raspberries

Child Harvesting Her Own Raspberries

We’ve all heard one or other of the various stories designed to remind us that teaching others to support themselves lasts quite a bit longer than giving others the means to support themselves. Whether it’s the story about teaching someone to fish or showing them how to sow seeds and reap harvests, the message is the same — we all need the means and the mentors to help us build the life skills that enable us to be self-sufficient. Sadly, today, I received news that a local youth gardening organization that provides these services is no longer with us.

Seattle Youth Garden Works is an organization founded in 1995 to help provide homeless youth training and jobs. Beginning with a single, small landscaping project, this program evolved to offer disenfranchised youth opportunity to learn the most basic of self-sustaining skills — how to grow food. As well, they learned how to bring that food to market.

Teach Kids about Worm Bins

Teach Kids about Worm Bins

Quite often at local fairs or garden events, one booth filled with bright, smiling, proud kids greeted Seattlites. Not only were these kids selling foods, but they were excited about their wares and were quick to share their full experience bringing these foods from seed to the sale table. Today that ends — or at least for the time being.

In a complicated mess during a time when non-profit funding is at a low, SYGW is without the means to continue operations. The board hasn’t given up all hope, as their announcement says here. Still, as we in Seattle are gearing up to begin planting our earliest seedlings, pruning dormant woody plants, and even pulling early weeds, this program is closing its doors. This, I imagine, leaves the 52 homeless youths they served in 2009 without support and continued career training in 2010.

If you have the means to support this organization or if you have ideas to help the board of SYGW develop the funding required to re-open their doors, I encourage you to contact Jennifer Crouch, President of the SYGW advisory board at 206-799-2545 or jlcrouch@yahoo.com. And, if you’re on Facebook, you might consider following SYGW here.

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Garden Coach on Gardening with Kids

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

I can’t wait to get out into my own garden today, but I had to share a fun tale from gardening with a kid yesterday. My friend Chaney came by to help me in the greenhouse. I had lots of seeding and potting up to do, and she was a huge help.

After seeding sunflowers and pole beans, I set her to the task of dividing and potting up corn starts out of sterile mix. She did a fantastic job seperating the starts, not touching the delicate roots, and placing them gently but firmly into the prepared 4″ pots. She topped each pot with a sprinkling of vermicompost and watered them in.

She also gave me food for thought when she exclaimed, “Hey, there’s a piece of corn growing out of this corn plant!”

Suppressing my “well of course there is” giggle, I explained to her that the corn we eat is actually the seed of the corn plant. That made sense to her, so it was easy to then teach her that the plant was growing out of the seed rather than the seed growing off of the plant.

Once she understood, even she began to laugh. We agreed you really do learn something new everyday!

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Garden Coach Teaches Children about Worm Composting

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

I was invited to present two very different seminars at the 2009 Northwest Flower and Garden Show. On both Saturday and Sunday I donned my garden coaching hat and gave a hands-0n, interactive, kid-friendly “seminar” on worm composting. This was my absolute favorite, and I’m exceptionally sad that its unlikely I’ll get to have this much fun with kids at the show in the future (because this was probably the last year). Perhaps I’ll get to bring this to classrooms instead someday. Regardless, teaching kids about worms was one big highlight for me this year.

Coloring and Sorting Through Worms!

Coloring and Sorting Through Worms!

Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure what my audience age range would be, so I had a few activities up my sleeve and no formal lecture planned. My best guess was that I’d have kids from 2-10 in my audience, and what kid this age wants to sit through a lecture? Fortunately, I my age guess was pretty accurate, and the kids loved the program.

I brought in two worm bins to illustrate types of bins families could use. One bin was full of actively working worms. The other was an empty wooden outdoor bin to show what they really look like/how they’re constructed. I also had lots of crayons and two-sided information sheets — one side with worm recycling for the kids to color; the other side filled with worm composting information, book ideas and more for the entire family. I brought in a tub filled with nearly-finished worm compost filled with loads and loads of wiggly worms. I also had some dry, finished worm castings to show what our garbage turns into after the worms are done. And, of course, I had some food items to show kids what part of our garbage the worms like to eat.

The kids piled to the tables as soon as the crayons and coloring sheets were laid out. As they got going, we talked about what worms eat and don’t eat. (My favorite response was, “Flaming carrots ’cause the worms might catch on fire and explode if they eat them.”) We talked about feeding the worm castings to our gardens to create more good food for ourselves — peas were a favorite choice among the kids to grow for themselves. And then the real fun began, I scooped up piles of working worms and put them on the tables. The kids dug through the muddy worm casting piles to pick out worms and millipedes and even a baby spider.

Feeding Worms & Tucking Them into Bed

Feeding Worms & Tucking Them into Bed

They found partially eaten beet roots and garlic and egg shells, and we talked about how the worms convert this “garbage” to compost. Then, to wrap up, I invited the kids to join me in feeding the worms and tucking them in. Each child picked a piece of fruit or vegetable waste or even a damp napkin from the pile and put it in a hole inside of the active worm bin. Then, they covered them up and we closed the hatch. As one little boy said, “They’ll be nice and warm in the dark where they like to be now.”

Really, it was a fantastic experience. The kids were so much fun and so were their parents and grandparents who were taking loads of photos of the fun event. It was fantastic to even have a few kids in the audience who were already composting with worms at home or at their school. Some were very knowledgable about worm composting already! As well, I received many good questions from parents interested in starting their own worm composting systems, and I’m fairly certain I helped motivate a few to start up systems of their own.

Interested in starting a worm bin at home?  Consider trying out an inexpensive bin you can build in just about 30 minutes at home. Or, if you need a larger system or want an outdoor wooden chest style worm bin, please get in touch for pricing for a custom-built box from Garden Mentors.

And, of course, if you have children and would like to schedule a garden coaching session to include them, please get in touch. Garden Mentors offers programs to involve anyone and everyone in the family in the garden!

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Posted in Vermicompost, garden coach, gardening with children | 4 Comments »

Garden Mentors’ Vote for Best 2009 Northwest Flower and Garden Show Garden

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Once again,  I’m getting out of the box to vote. Despite how much I loved the amazing designer show gardens and appreciate the hard work that went into them, I’m casting my vote for something much smaller this year.  After wandering through the show perusing shopping items, checking out overblown garden designs that blew me away, I found myself eating a horrible sandwich on the fake lawn near the children’s gardens. The draw of Disney radio tweens dancing and teaching toddlers to Limbo was just too much, I had to watch the show over lunch (and laugh and smile despite a gross, overpriced Ruben). Passing through the children’s gardens I saw it, my star garden of the day — of the whole show in fact.

Do Not Enter! Compost Worms

Do Not Enter! Compost Worms

Overshot beansprout trees, everything out of scale, dried up orange peel, magic marker scribbles and the crowning glory — a teetering popsicle box, falling apart illustrating, well…really, the picture says it all:

A child’s imagination stole my heart and won my vote for best of show.

The show can be taxing. If you’ve never been to this garden show, you may not really understand the scale of this event, and frankly I’m just too tired now to really go into it. But, after weaving through crowds, nearly falling over one shopper who stopped mid-step and then gave me a nasty “excuse you!” when I bumped rather than fell over him, standing on unforgiving concrete, smiling and chatting gracefully while hosting show gardens despite innane and confrontational show attendees, it’s refreshing to just stop and see something as simple as a few beansprouts and a little “worms at work” sign created by a child. It took me back to days of old when I was proud to build something with a little rubber cement and popsicle sticks, a time when a blue ribbon was fun, but the world didn’t begin and end with someone else’s prize-award judgement.

I sincerely hope my award winner comes to the garden show so we can talk about worms at work together on the kids stage. Perhaps his (or her) reward will be a big fistful of red wrigglers to add to his popsicle worm bin. I have a feeling this kid would enjoy a dirty, messy reward more than the blue ribbon s/he and every other kid got for their gardens.

Are you my winner (or just a kid who likes worms and gardening)? Please drop by the Sproutopia stage this weekend:

When: Saturday and Sunday, 2pm

Where: Northwest Flower & Garden Show 2009 on the Sprout Stage

Presentation Title: Who Wants Garbage for Dinner? The Wonderful Way of Worms!

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Robin Haglund at the 2009 Northwest Flower & Garden Show

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

The buzz around the 2009 Northwest Flower & Garden Show is getting louder. Can you hear it? Flora’s Blog for the show recently posted part one of a two-part interview with garden coach Robin Haglund (moi) about the kid and family-focused program she is putting together for this year’s Sproutopia! stage. Read the interview here.

I’m very excited the show has invited me to bring this program to the garden show this year, and I hope to meet many of my readers at the show for my Worm composting presentation and/or my gardening with dogs presentation with Lisa Wogan. Here’s more about each program:

Who Wants Garbage for Dinner? The Wonderful Way of Worms!
Saturday, February 21st at 2pm & Sunday, February 22nd at 2pm
Summary: As we worry about building a better environment for the future, we should start teaching our children ways they can contribute.  In this lively hands-on session for kids and parents, we’ll look at the “naked-eye” creatures that come to live in worm bins!  How do worms eat our garbage, and what comes out when they’re done munching on fruit and vege scraps, coffee grounds and egg shells.  Kids will love this, and parents will too!
Got Dogs? Gardening with Canine Companions
Sunday, February 22nd at 9:45am
Summary: Does your dog enjoy your garden even more than you do?  Gardeners who share their gardening spaces with canine companions face special challenges like spotty lawns, chewed shrubs, unwanted planting bed excavations, trampled perennials, and poopy piles in all the wrong places. Join gardening coach Robin Haglund, who has cared for dozens of dogs and solved a multitude of dog challenges, and Lisa Wogan, author of Dog Park Wisdom and Unleashed, for useful tips and training tricks to bring the best out of the garden you share with your best doggie pals.

As the show approaches, I’ll post updates…and may even offer a contest for free show tickets. Interested? Keep reading and sending in your great gardening questions!

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Posted in Vermicompost, composting, garden show, gardening events, gardening with children | 5 Comments »

Sustainable Gardening Use for Junk Mail

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Junk mail, newsprint advertising fliers, and paper envelopes pile up in our house fast! We’ve opted out of as many lists as we can, but the paper keeps coming. So, we’re looking at ways to make better use of this trashmail.

In the past, most of this material has gone directly from the front door mailbox to the backdoor recycling bin — sometimes making a stop at the dining room table where it piles up until it runs through a shredder. Occasionally, some of it would go into the outdoor firepit to start summer evening marshmallow toasting events. Rarely, did it go to use around the house.

Today, we’re implementing a new plan. Non-glossy or plastic-window-containing trash paper is headed for the worm composter. This stuff makes great bedding for the worms. It helps insulate the worm bin to keep them warm, and when push comes to shove, the worms and their decomposition buddies will eat up the paper, composting it for the garden.

Teach Kids about Worm Bins

Teach Kids about Worm Bins

I’ll be writing more about vermicomposting in the coming months. Interested in building a worm composter or having one built for your Seattle-area garden, check out Bob Albert’s post on the new worm bin he just built for a Garden Mentors client. Need to find worms or other supplies for your worm bin? Check out the new composting section of the Garden Help Garden Store.

And I invite you to join me at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show on February 21st and February 22nd at 2pm on the Sprout stage for my kid-focused, family-friendly introduction to composting with worms. Find more information on this presentation and buy tickets to the 2009 Northwest Flower and Garden Show here.

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Posted in Vermicompost, composting, garden lecture, garden show, gardening events, gardening with children | 3 Comments »

Gardening in 2009 — A New Year with New(er) Garden Ideas

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Looking for innovative ideas and options for your garden for 2009? Here are Five simple ones to consider:

  1. More Edibles:
    Properly Divided & Planted Cauliflower

    Properly Divided & Planted Cauliflower

    Yep, the buzz is humming. Buy local. Buy organic. Grow your own. And why not? Growing food is easy. Even if you’ve never grown a bite of food, there are so many simple ways to get started. You don’t need to purchase seed for everything. Each year higher end nurseries and local plant sales are offering more and more edible plant starts, cycling them in at just the right time for you to set them out in your garden. And even easier: put in a few herbs. Many add fragrant, low maintenance evergreen interest to your garden as well as saving you several bucks on fresh herbs at the grocery store!

  2. Less Lawn: Sure, we Seattle horties say it every year — reduce your lawn to reduce dependence on water, pesticides and the mower. Each year I get more and more requests to find alternatives to traditional grassy spaces. This spring may be the perfect time for you to start seeding your lawn with self-fertilizing, low-mow, low-water eco-turf meadow seed blends. Or better yet, get out there now to sheet mulch your lawn so it’s gone by spring. Need help? Get in touch!
  3. Goats:
    Goats Clearing Weeds in Seattle

    Goats Clearing Weeds in Seattle

    Tired of hand weeding and using a machete to clear through blackberries and other overgrown brambles? Consider hiring a goat herder (and her herd) to do the clearing for you! The trend to bring in ruminants to clear out weeds and poop out fertilizer and aerate soil with cloven hooves has been growing, especially among parks and public utilities. 2009 is the year more homeowners are likely to bring the goats back into urban settings to do the heavy clearing for them!

  4. Container Gardening:
    Decorative and 100% Edible!

    Decorative and 100% Edible!

    Sure, there’s nothing new about planting in containers, but they sure do look good. And, they’re easy to manage. Plus, you can always take your container garden with you! And, adding edibles to containers makes for a super-simple kitchen garden for anyone. Whether you live in a tiny apartment or on a farm, big containers with mixed edibles is a great way to decorate and have a snack right outside your door!

  5. Gardening Families Hiring Garden Coaches: Each year I get more and more calls and emails from families who want to start gardening. I’m not one to draw graphs, but I know this one would have an upward arrow. Gardening industry pollsters have been telling this industry for years that there is a decline in gardening interest as Baby-boomers age & downsize. They tell us that Gen-Xers/Yers just aren’t interested in doing for themselves and would rather pay to hire out gardening “work” so they can “play”. Well, I disagree. Families call all the time, often inspired by their children’s inquiries about the garden and food. Some are Baby-boomers retirees with time on their hands and a new or re-found interest in their gardens. Sure, these folks may have the money to hire out their gardening “work”, but they’re interested in learning about getting their hands dirty. They want to grow food or start a compost bin or just come together as a family in their garden to create a space they can truly call their own. And, a garden coach offers them the guidance to take ownership and have fun in their gardens.
Harvesting Her Own Raspberries

Harvesting Her Own Raspberries

Today, it’s difficult not to be concerned about holding onto our homes and our jobs. The news bombards us with depressing stats on everything we’re losing or may lose in the months ahead. Our connection to the planet, our opportunity to use our bodies to feed our bodies, our families, these are all the things an economic downturn cannot take from us. With a little help, a bit of rain, a flash of sunlight and a small seed, we have the power to build a stronger future, better families, and a beautiful planet.

I could go on & on with other topics like adjusting gardens to deal with climate change, reducing fertilization, increasing composting, adding mid-winter interest plantings, planting more trees, wearing more sunscreen, doing more plant sharing/dig ‘n split parties, inviting more bees and birds into the garden, building more coldframes/greenhouses, attending more garden tours, using herbs for medicinals, converting the White House lawn to a Victory Garden, and on and on, but I leave you with this and invite you to suggest ideas of your own for the year ahead.

If you’re ready to start a garden coaching program in the greater Seattle area, please get in touch. If you’re interested in reading more in-depth articles on any of these topics, or others, please let me know.

Happy New Year!

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Posted in Container Garden, Edible Gardens, Food, Food for Thought, Garden Maintenance, Gardening, Localvore, garden coach, garden mentor, gardening with children | No Comments »

Gardener’s Epiphany Invokes Process Change

Friday, December 19th, 2008
Organic Cabbage Grown at Home

Organic Cabbage Grown at Home

Earlier this year, Bill Moyers interviewed Michael Pollan on the subject of Food, Health and Agri-business. In this compelling, two part interview Pollan discusses industrialized food, climate change, health care, petroleum costs and more as it relates to plain old food. A few highlight comments:

  • Vote with your fork!
  • The generation being born today is the first in history to have an shorter life expectancy than their parents.
  • Be prepared to cook & declare your independence from processed foods
  • Make yourself a producer, put in a garden
  • Pollan’s 10′ x 20′ veggie garden produces so much food he has difficulty giving away the extras
  • Cheap energy has allowed us to outsource so much of our lives & the time of cheap energy may be coming to an end
  • Gardening teaches us we can use our bodies to support our bodies.
  • Gardening teaches us we can feed ourselves — if we need to (someday).
  • It is empowering to know you are not at the mercy of the supermarket.
Teaching Children about Growing Food

Teaching Children about Growing Food

Please take some time to watch this segment and learn more about where your food really comes from and how building your own garden will empower your mind, body, and community.

If you’re interested in reading more of Pollan’s writings on food, please visit the Garden Help Garden Store where you will find all of his books — on food and otherwise in the novels, memoirs and more book section. And, if you’re interested in learning how you can put in your own edible garden, please get in touch to schedule a garden coaching session. You’re never too young or too old to start feeding yourself. And, really, it isn’t as difficult or as time consuming as you might think. Once you get started self-sourcing your life, you’ll be hooked for life!

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Posted in Edible Gardens, Farming, Food, Food for Thought, Localvore, Sustainability, books, gardening with children | 1 Comment »

The Hall of Fame Toy Any Gardener Can Give – The Stick!

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
My Nephew in the Forest; His stick lines the waterfeature

My Nephew in the Forest; His stick lines the waterfeature

This year “The Stick” made it into the Toy Hall of fame. I found out about it when my sister emailed to tell me and my Toy-guru stepmom that she’d heard it reported on NPR.org. She reminded us of my nephew’s one request when they moved to a new neighborhood recently: “Mom, its got to be a house with good sticks.”

Fortunately for him, it is a house with good sticks. They live in a deciduous forest in Virginia, and it is filled with sticks — tiny, twiggy magic wand sticks to huge lichen-covered branches to perfect walking sticks for kids of all sizes and ages. Everytime I visit, my nephew and his sister are guaranteed to be outside trolling the grounds for this year’s natural hall of fame toy — the Stick.

I’m sure my sister is thrilled with her kids’ choice of “found” objects to play with. These toys literally rain from the sky at her house like pennies from heaven (when you think about what a trip to the toy store costs!)  And if the kids don’t get’m, the garden will!

Now, lest we forget the old-timey hall of famer “the cardboard box” let me remind you that when its time as a train, spaceship or castle comes to an end, it too may enter the garden to join sheet mulching or the compost bin.

Now how “green” is that?!

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Posted in and now for something completely different, gardening with children | 4 Comments »

Seattle Times Garden Coaching Article

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Yesterday I was thrilled to see that the Seattle Times ran an Associated Press article written by Dean Fosdick on Garden Coaches entitled Garden Coaches Boost Skills, Confidence. Dean had called me in late December last year to interview me on being a garden mentor. I knew him as a regular gardening writer for the AP and was very happy to speak with him about my experience with and passion for garden mentoring. Dean and I spoke about many aspects of garden coaching. And, Dean spoke with many garden coaches across the U.S. in order to round out his piece for a wider audience. If you are interested in learning more about garden coaching, please take a few moments to read his article here. (And if you select the second image, you’ll see me working with one of my young gardening students.)

Of course, if you have additional questions about gardening or garden coaching, please get in touch. 

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