Check out this short video to learn more about Lower Columbia School Gardens: how it all started, and how we engage kids and families.
Check out this short video to learn more about Lower Columbia School Gardens: how it all started, and how we engage kids and families.
Thanks to all who attended our Fall Fundraiser. If you couldn’t come this time, donations and contributions are always welcome. Please check out our donation page.
Now in the afternoon:
Bring home fresh-picked fruit, vegetables and flowers every Wednesday from the Northlake Garden at 2210 Olympia Way in Longview.
Click the image for details. Contact Ian if you still have a question.
School Gardens could not exist without supporters like you!
Your donation in 2015 will be doubled thanks to matching grants from The Health Care Foundation and Wollenberg Foundation.
Visit LCschoolgardens.org to contribute today and connect kids and families with real food and hands-on learning in school gardens.
One of our AmeriCorps Members, Hillary Jensen, recently had the opportunity to visit the Xerces Society in Portland, OR along with LCSG Board President – Louis LaPierre, and Friend of LCSG, Author and Naturalist – Robert Pyle.
Xerces generously donated Pollinator Habitat signs for installation in each of our School Gardens – which will help us teach about and protect VIPs (very important pollinators) in our own community.
Thank you for the signs and for all the valuable work you do for invertebrates, Xerces Society.
Learn more about the birth and work of Xerces here: http://www.xerces.org/story/
“Ultimately, it is volunteers who make it possible for kids to experience the school garden in a meaningful way.”
Whether you are currently volunteering in a school garden or are just starting to think about getting your hands dirty… this free training (pdf) event is for you! Learn simple, effective techniques and strategies for helping kids (and plants!) thrive.
We hope you can attend one of these two (identical) 3-hour sessions:
Northlake Elementary
“Garden Lab” Room 26 (2nd portable)
2210 Olympia Way
Longview, WA 98632
We will work in the classroom as well as out in the garden – there will be plenty of hands-on learning! Topics include:
Enjoy learning and connecting with great people who have a shared passion for kids, gardens and good food. Snacks provided. And yes, Steve the Rabbit will be there.
This training is free! All are welcome, even those outside Cowlitz County.
Register by simply replying to Ian.
Please specify which day works best for you.
Thanks to all who attended our Fall Fundraiser. If you couldn’t come this time, donations and contributions are always welcome. Please check out donation page.
Please join us for our Fall 2014 Fundraiser. Click the image for all the details and to purchase your tickets.
Thank you for making this happen – your donations totaling $10,000 have poured in over the last few months. We will now send that to The Health Care Foundation who will in turn write a check for $20,000 to support local school gardens.
As you may know, everything we do is made possible by private donations (40%) and grants (60%). All the weekly garden and cooking programs that we design and run (serving 2900 students last year); all the sheds, fences, raised beds, irrigation lines, and trellises that we install; all the tools, microscopes, fruit trees, seeds, plants, fertilizers, soil, etc that we buy; all the harvest festivals, Earth Day, STEM events, volunteer trainings – all this is made possible by the generosity of people like you.
The success of this matching grant puts us closer to what we need to bring in this year to continue to provide and expand these services (still seeking $21,000 more in general donations and $20,000 from our Fall Harvest Event).
You’ve heard this before, but can I say it again? 5 years ago there was one school garden in these parts; today there are thirteen.
This was not a federal, state, or district initiative; rather, this was our community saying “This needs to happen. This kind of hands-on learning centered around nature and real food is not just kinda neat, it is essential. And every child deserves to have the opportunities and experiences that a school garden provides.”
Lower Columbia School Gardens formed in 2010 to answer that call, and we have been going full tilt ever since. Thank you for partnering with us every step of the way.
Gratefully
Ian
Our newest garden is a place to be if you like to grow and learn! Many families brought their best worker bees to participate in the recent work party. We are transforming the hillside into an outdoor classroom suited for science, math and nutrition lessons and for promoting good stewardship of our planet Earth. Our accomplishments so far: building retaining walls to create flat spots and “rooms” within the larger footprint, stripping sod and spreading soil, installing drains, shoveling gravel and, most importantly…planting! Already in: herbs, peas, onions, lettuce, squash, blueberries, grapes, nasturtiums, and more to come.
For a task list and the garden calendar see the garden website. Contact Cathleen McNelly if you like to help or have any questions.