Talia, could you introduce yourself and tell me what your position is at the Webb Street School?

My name is Talia Wucherer. I’m a special educator. I work at Webb Street School, which is a specialized school for students with disabilities, about 150 of them from across Gaston County in North Carolina.

And how long have you been involved with the Webb Street School?

I’ve been involved with Webb Street for about eight years, as a parent, because I have a daughter that attends the school, but I’ve been on staff for the last four years. I came on because I have a background in landscape design and volunteering with a group of adults with disabilities doing horticultural therapy type programs. I coordinate the instruction in the garden.

Could you tell me some more about the students at the Webb Street Garden and the mission of the garden?

We serve students ages five through 22. We have different goals for each student, but we try to provide unique, hands-on learning opportunities for students as well as community-based vocational training.

We also try to get everyone out to the garden. For the youngest, it’s often about having a sensory experience of introducing them to different textures, smells, feelings, colors and for the oldest students, we use the garden and the greenhouses as a vocational program to prepare them for the next step once they exit school—to learn some type of skill that they can use past our building.

How did the garden get started?

It started with a Girl Scout project for a Gold Award. This girl scout approached the school to start a garden. She came in and did some sensory boards that we could use as an outdoor classroom.

I came on to Webb street and designed a new garden. There were some raised beds in place that needed to be repositioned and made more functional. This year the SeedMoney grant replaced those beds with new more accessible beds for our students. They are higher and more functional to accommodate the varying needs our students have.

What are some of the types of produce that you grow in that garden?

Our students primarily have access to our winter garden because school’s out over the summer months. Our students usually get to experience rainbow chard, kale, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, Brussels sprouts. We grow a variety of herbs.

We’re still working on finding something that works during the summer months. It can be hard to get enough volunteers. This year I’m thinking of planting something easy like sweet potatoes that the students could experience when they come back in the Fall.

What are some of the students’ favorite things to cook?

One of my most memorable moments was actually cooking rainbow chard. So many of our students had never tasted them. The students grew the chard, picked it, cleaned it, chopped it up and sauteed it with some olive oil, garlic and onion. They got to do the whole process and learn skills like kitchen safety and cooking along the way. Finally, they got to taste the fruit of their labor. For many of them that was the first time eating that and they really liked it, some even came back for seconds! It’s a way of teaching them simple recipes and also healthy eating. They can try new things and they might like it and it’s also OK if they don’t like it.

Could you describe some of the lessons you teach using the garden?

For instance, growing root vegetables is a great lesson because the whole concept of roots is really abstract. So that offers a great lesson for teaching. We teach them that we sometimes actually eat the roots and not just what is growing above the ground.

Also, I will say that our aquaponic system has been phenomenal in teaching that whole plant life cycle, because we have a propagation station that they use to germinate the seeds. Once you lift the rafts, you can see the entire root system. They get to see the entire process from what the seed looks like to what the root system looks when you harvest.That sounds like a great lesson.

It teaches biology, chemistry and ecology as well, because in an aquaponic system. You have a symbiotic relationship between the fish and the plants. We have to test the water to make sure the fish are producing enough waste for the plants and to make sure the plants are cleaning the water enough for the fish. It just becomes a really dynamic lesson. Teaching them how everything relies on each other, how you can’t use pesticides because it might kill different things. That becomes a lesson that carries beyond this, it’s what’s happening in our lakes because of pesticides.

Do you have any tips for people just starting or thinking about starting a garden?

I guess the best advice is to start small with something that is manageable. If you start too big, I think it gets overwhelming and hard to take care of. We started small with the garden and expanded it. We started small with an aquaponics demo system and now we produce 60 pounds of greens a week.

You make a lot of mistakes and you learn from your mistakes. So it’s a lot easier to correct and learn from smaller mistakes than from massive mistakes that you might not recover from financially.

Also its really important to have community partnerships especially for the school gardens. There are local restaurants that we provide to. We work with a local community college. We donate to local food banks. Church groups come in and build raised beds for us. We partnered with a high school carpentry class that has rebuilt all the raised beds for us. We’ve fostered a relationship with a landscape supply company not far from the school that usually helps us with soil and fertilizer. So all of that is really important.

It’s great that you’re strengthening community ties.

Well, I don’t think these gardens can thrive without the community ties. You know, and it’s important that it’s a two-way street. We have the ability to feed the community and also teach and foster relationships within the community.

Also, I think that’s the key to getting contributions to the program. If you don’t have those community ties. I don’t think there is an investment from the community back into the program.

As someone who’s had impressive results with SeedMoney’s crowdgrants platform, what tips do you have for others?

Share, share, and share again. And I mean, during the 30 days that it’s active, the more you share it on social media or through electronic newsletters, or however you can spread the word, the more you’ll get donations. That is the most effective way of bringing awareness but also getting the donations and if you’re not sharing the platform, it does not work. So you need to be a marketer.

We have a newsletter that we publish bi-weekly through email and the school Facebook page. We also do a lot of presentations about our garden, at the state level, at the local level, at the district level, it’s all about sharing what we’re doing. So when it comes a time that we have a need, we can reach back out.

Do you have any parting words for the readers?

A garden is probably one of the most valuable learning tools that you can use, it’s so hands-on. The students love it, they love being outside, they get to experience things that otherwise they might never get to experience. So I’ve truly enjoyed seeing how our students have grown and reached milestones. For some, it’s a new sensory experience and for others it’s the opportunity to learn a skill that allows them to get a job when they leave the school. Having a garden is life-changing.

The post Talia Wucherer: Webb Street School, Gastonia, NC appeared first on SeedMoney.

Tell me about yourself. 

My name is Craig Wilkes. I’m in Meridian, Mississippi. This is a small southern town in South East Mississippi, there’s about 74,000 residents in this county. It’s a very typical southern town: very poor, a mix of black and white, some Latinos and some Asians. I was born and raised here, but left here when I was 18. I lived in San Francisco and New York City for thirty years, got married to my husband in New York and we moved back here to Mississippi about 7 years ago. I have my own business I run a bra Factory in Sri Lanka and I do a lot of volunteer stuff here in Mississippi.

How did you get involved with Go Green, Meridian?

I came together with a group of like-minded people, liberals I would call them, but there are Republicans and Democrats, black and white, and we formed a little group called Go Green, Meridian!. It was originally structured around bringing awareness to growing your own food, healthy eating, even beekeeping—all types of natural initiatives that you can do to improve your life that don’t cost too much money.

How has community gardening become part of Go Green, Meridian’s mission?

After I joined the group, about 7 years ago, we came up with the idea to start a local community garden that teaches organic and sustainable best practices for growing food. After a local businessman donated the use of some commercial land, we broke ground and planted the Love and Peas Community Garden. Community gardens can be set up so that you have you own a little plot that you rent and you do what you do. We decided to do more of a teaching garden where everyone comes and works together. We teach people how to grow food organically and sustainably and then we share equally everything that comes out of the garden. The garden is open to all and we work as a group 4 hours per week 52 weeks of the year. It’s really become a beautiful, calming spot that people like to come to.

Who are some of the people you work with in this garden and what initiatives do you run?

We host school groups, church groups and garden groups. The group itself is open to everyone; we have a diverse group in terms of race, religion, politics, and gender. We provide demonstrations, teach classes and donate food to local food banks. Fresh local organic produce is a rare thing to offer in that particular situation. Some of the classes we teach include cooking courses, sustainability practices and gardening workshops.

What types of produce do you grow in that garden? What’s your favorite?

We are very lucky with our climate in Mississippi. Everyone knows of the summer heat and humidity of the deep South, but folks don’t realize you can grow food all fall and winter as well.  We grow everything from lettuce to tomatoes, but we also specialize in tea plants, medicinal plants and beneficial plants for pollinators, especially butterflies. My favorites are summer tomatoes and winter greens.

Could you tell me about a day you spent as a group in the Love and Peas Community Garden that really sticks out to you?

This past fall we had a group of 1st to 5th grade students come tour the garden. Some of the kids are troubled and having difficulty learning and behavior problems. One of the students was so surprised by the smell and taste of fresh mint that he ran up to the school supervisors to share this new experience with him. The principal was astonished as it was the first positive interaction the two had ever had.

By this point you’re a gardening pro, do you have any tips for people just starting or thinking about starting a garden?

When someone tells me they want to start a community garden, I always stress the amount of work and commitment you must give to such a project. It ain’t easy some days! I tell them my advice is to come work with us and see what you’re getting into because it is a huge amount of work and responsibility. But also, I tell people growing food is growing money. Especially in these tough economic times, if you want to have a bit more spending power a pack of seeds doesn’t cost a whole lot of money. 

You’re also a pro at using the SeedMoney platform by now, what tips do you have for people thinking about using SeedMoney?

The most effective way to raise money is share, share, and share! Over time we have built up a stable of generous folks who are always willing to help support what we do. A great story with compelling pictures of people interacting with the garden speaks volumes to what we are doing and what we want to achieve. Using your organization is very easy. It’s a very straight forward process, but at the same time I think you need to put a lot of effort into determining what you want to get out of this program. Does that make sense?

Yeah sure that makes sense. Would you say that it’s helpful to construct a story for your organization in order to attract attention? 

Yeah, like you said. You start with this and you want to go where? How do you get from point A to point B? Now, we reach just a small group of people, really and truly. Our goal now is how do we extend that further. How do we reach more people? We’re all volunteers with limited time and energy. How do you get from just this to something that affects more people in a positive way without a lot of resources? 

Do you have any parting words for the readers?

Remember a community garden is about everyone who lives in your town, city and county.  Always strive to have members of your group that reflect all who live there.

The post Craig Wilkes: Love and Peas Community Garden, Meridian, MS appeared first on SeedMoney.

When did you first become involved in food gardening and who were some of your teachers?

When I was very young, my family had a small vegetable garden. I really didn’t like weeding it, but my dad made me. I loved picking warm tomatoes and bringing them into make tomato sandwiches. When we moved to Maine in 1981, I put in a vegetable garden and have been growing food every year since then.

What led or inspired you to become active in the Kennebunk Community Garden?

I grew up near Boston. I was intrigued by the downtown Community Garden and visited it in the 70’s. As a gardener and a Master Gardener, I heard from a friend that RJ Mere had approached the Kennebunk Selectmen to begin a Community Garden. I jumped onboard the committee in 2008. I became Chair in 2013.

What do you do when you’re not in the garden or during the off-season?

I have a 35 year old daughter with a myriad of special needs that still lives at home with us. A great deal of my time is taking care of her. In addition, I love spending time with our two standard poodles, quilting, skiing and volunteering.

As one of the garden’s coordinators, what has been one of the high points for you when you saw that the garden was really making a difference?

I love Kennebunk Community Garden Committee members! They are the most passionate group of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. My high point is watching them share with newcomers what we do. I love just sitting back and observing the passion that flows out of them as they describe the last harvest, or the latest delivery to the food pantry, or taking a new person for a tour in one of our two gardens.

What are some of your hopes for the Kennebunk Community Garden future and what do you need to realize them?

We provide fresh organic produce 6 months a year to the Community Outreach Services food pantry. I would love to be able to extend that to 9 months. Additionally, our Committee really appreciates the Town of Kennebunk’s support of our mission. However, there are ongoing expenses. Our 10 year old raised beds need replacing and we really need a fence at our Park Street Garden.

The post Leslie Lindgren: Kennebunk Community Garden appeared first on SeedMoney.