May 6 - Orchard Garden CFE

May 6 Blog Post- Orchard Garden CFE

Laura- Stories

Today we had the pleasure of being introduced to the garden on the roof of the NEST called “Roots in the Roof.” Brandon delved right into the garden and what it’s trying to represent. What really caught my eye were the hexagonal stories that were intertwined with the fence that wraps around the garden. Each hexagon contained a different written piece; whether it be a poem, a story, or an experience. One hexagon that really affected me was the poem about a student whose mother passed away. She connected her experience to food, and how her mother would always get up early so she could make her breakfast. She expressed how just a small gesture could mean so much; something as simple as getting up earlier than her to take more stress off her for the day was incredibly meaningful. It really moved me and it helped me understand how something as normalized as food can hold such an important place in someone’s heart and memories. Brandon expressed how important community was to the project, and seeing these hexagons really brought that home as each person was connecting through a different experience, but it was all based on the same thing: food. It was really awesome to see such a beautiful display of English being used to connect to the garden through poetry, storytelling, and experiences. I would definitely consider using a project like this in the future if I’m able to start a garden!

Aman- Salad bowl game

Following our tour of the Roots on the Roof garden, Brendan introduced us to the salad bowl game. The purpose of this game was to refresh our memories of the different plants growing in the garden and what we had learned throughout the discussion about the garden (I.e. What connections we made, etc.). Once we were split into two different teams, one member would choose a random slip of paper that had a plant name on it and had to describe it to the teammates, who had to guess the name of the plant. The game was quite interesting because we were able to review what we learned and hear all the different connections everyone made regarding the chosen plant. Hearing these different connections helped us remember the plant for future rounds (I.e Italian was the description given for oregano, purple was the clue given to describe lavender, etc). Any teacher could modify this game to fit their teaching subject while also incorporating garden learning/development! For example, I could teach the students mini history lessons on particular plants in my future garden and those historical facts could be used as clues for describing the plants!

Fatima

Brendan gave us a tour around Roots on the Roof and showed us all the different vegetables and herbs this little, and beautiful garden contains. Chocolate mint was what stood out the most for me; the texture, the smell, and the taste reminded me of my childhood and that was also what Brendan talked about. “ A lot of people talk about food through their experiences and memories”

We also harvested a really big Radish and Brendan washed, and cut the Radish and we all eat it. The whole experience was educational, spiritual, and fun.  

Stephanie- Progress

In the afternoon, the Orchard Garden CFE team gathered to plan our next exciting project: a garden workshop held on Saturday, May 14.  In the past two weeks we had the privilege of visiting numerous school gardens and talking with passionate educators who put a lot of time and effort into creating a garden as a community and teaching area.  With a lot of knowledge and inspiration under our belt, we began to lay out the details of our garden workshop.  Although the details of this workshop won’t be released until a later date, we are aiming to cater this workshop to be informative and inspirational, especially for educators who are interested in teaching in a school garden, and of course, fun for people of all ages! I will share that it involves teaching across the curriculum, so you by attending this workshop you will leave with knowledge not just about one subject but possibly a few.  We have a fun activity prepared for lunch as well; we hope to see some of the readers there at the Orchard Garden workshop on May 14th!