Growing Together

2011 Garden Building and Planting Day!

2011-06-02T23:18:00.004-04:00

On Saturday morning, dozens of fantastic volunteers joined at the Tremont Garden to get everything prepared for another wonderful year of gardening and learning. Luckily, the weather cooperated too!

Here's a glimpse of the many activities and tasks that were accomplished:

More Room to Garden
We decided to expand the garden this year to give more classrooms the opportunity to participate. We built two new raised beds to match the six original beds.

Clean Up and Make Ready for New Plantings
The existing six beds needed to be cleaned up after the winter. It was really fun to see the plants that were planted last fall that were coming up, like garlic, onions and cilantro.

Tend to the Compost

The compost pile that we started last spring produced plenty of rich compost to add to our garden beds!

Plant Markers

The kids really enjoyed painting plant markers for the garden. The colors are fantastic!

Rain Makers

The rainmakers were a fun activity too!

Worms!

The best part of gardening is the worms, don't you think?

Planting new Vegetables

Finally, we were ready to sow some new seeds for the upcoming season.

It was a fantastic day and everyone left with a great sense of accomplishment.

It's hard to believe that the school year is almost over. Throughout the summer, we're looking for families and teachers to volunteer to help us tend to the garden. We'd like for each family and/or teacher to sign up for one week. The duties will include watering, light weeding and turning the compost. If we get enough volunteers, we'll pair two families together for each week. It's a great way to spend some quality time with your kids while participating in a learning activity. If you're interested in volunteering for a week, please send an email to tremontgrowingtogether@gmail.com. Hope to see you all in the garden soon!

Get Involved in the Garden!

2011-04-04T17:58:00.002-04:00

Next time you're at school, be sure to check out the Tremont Community Garden bulletin board. You'll find lots of projects available to sign up for.

As you can see, we've already had a number of classrooms sign up!

If you are a parent and would like to participate, please inquire with your child's teacher to see what they may have planned. If you're a teacher and haven't gotten involved yet, we encourage you to do so!

Remember, our garden building and planting day is May 7. More details will follow about exact timing, but we're tentatively planning on 9 am - Noon. If you're interested in volunteering on that day, please email me at robynharper@sbcglobal.com.

Hope to see you all soon in the garden!

Spring is in the Air!

2011-03-16T22:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a long winter and we're getting excited to get back into the garden! We have big plans for this spring, including 4 new raised beds. There will be fun and interesting learning opportunities, and we hope that even more kids, teachers and parents will become involved.

** Save the Date **

Building and Planting Day - Saturday, May 7

More details to follow soon! We hope you'll join us!

Pepper Jelly Recipe

2010-10-18T16:35:00.000-04:00

We had a great time at Craft Corner on Saturday! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello. If any of you are interested in getting more involved with the community garden, please send us an email at tremontgrowingtogether@gmail.com and we'll get you connected with the appropriate people.

Alex's pepper jelly was a huge hit at our Craft Corner booth. As promised, here is her recipe:

Hot Pepper Jelly

Ingredients

. 2 1/2 cups finely chopped red bell peppers
. 1 1/4 cups finely chopped green bell peppers
. 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeno peppers
. 1 cup apple cider vinegar
. 1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered pectin
. 5 cups white sugar

Directions

1. Sterilize 6 (8 ounce) canning jars and lids according to manufacturer's instructions. Heat water in a hot water canner.
2. Place red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and jalapeno peppers in a large saucepan over high heat. Mix in vinegar and fruit pectin. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Quickly stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil, and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and skim off any foam.
3. Quickly ladle jelly into sterile jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the tops. Cover with flat lids, and screw on bands tightly.
4. Place jars in rack, and slowly lower jars into canner. The water should cover the jars completely, and should be hot but not boiling. Bring water to a boil, and process for 5 minutes.

Tips:

After chopping drain peppers, boil for 2 minutes not 1, can use a variety of peppers as above recipe will not be very hot.

Enjoy!

Come visit us at Craft Corner!

2010-10-16T11:44:00.002-04:00

Craft Corner is this Saturday, October 16 from 9 - 2. The Tremont Community Garden will have a booth and we hope you'll stop by to visit. We'll be selling pepper jelly made from the peppers in our garden, plus a variety of craft items made by Mrs. Bergen and Mrs. Persichetti's 2nd grade classes. All proceeds will go back into the garden fund to help defray next years' expenses. We'll also have photos of our garden throughout the year and other items to share. We hope to see you tomorrow!

I'd also like to tell you about a blog that you and your kids will enjoy called Mrs. May's Book Nook. The blog is written by Becky May, a second/third grade loop teacher at Tremont, and relates Becky's experiences as a teacher with particular emphasis on the importance of reading.

Mrs. May refers to her classroom as Room 102 -- With the Garden View! In her most recent blog post, she discusses the Tremont Community Garden and the wide variety of activities that have happened in and around the garden in the past 6 months. Thank you, Becky, for including us in your blog!

Finally, here's a glimpse of how the garden looks this fall. Enjoy!

Back to School!

2010-09-03T23:01:00.000-04:00

We've just finished the first full week of school and already there have been lots of visits to the garden. Just today, the kids in Mrs. Bergen's and Mrs. Persichetti's classes got to make and try basil pesto with Tremont mom, Alex Borstad. It was a fun, educational and delicious experience for all!

We started by harvesting the basil from the garden.

Everyone noticed the wonderful aroma of the basil as we came inside!

Then, everyone got a chance to help make the pesto.

We learned how a salad spinner dries the leaves.

These boys are peeling garlic.

Next, we added the ingredients to the food processor.

Everyone wanted to smell the final product!

Mmmmm....good!

If you'd like to make some pesto at home, here's the recipe we used:

Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts or sunflower seeds

3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Special equipment needed: A food processor

METHOD

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.

We hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we did!

In the News AGAIN!

2010-07-22T22:39:00.000-04:00

Check out the latest newspaper article featuring the Tremont Garden! The article, written by Gail Martineau, details the goals of our garden project and highlights the wonderful community spirit that has developed among the students, teachers, parents and community members who have contributed to the garden's success. And, of course, we'd like to thank the UA education foundation for awarding us a $1500 grant to further our efforts. The future of our garden project is bright!

Here are a few pictures sent in by our weekly volunteers. Hope you enjoy them!

Jill and Zach Prout harvested these veggies and took them to the food bank this week. Aren't the peppers beautiful?

Jenny and Henry Anderson take turns watering the garden.

Keep the pictures coming! Thanks for all your help.

Volunteer Report

2010-06-30T11:41:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. It's hard to believe that the 4th of July is here already.

The Tremont Garden has been progressing nicely, thanks to our summertime volunteers. Below is an email from Bonnie Wild reporting on the garden and sharing some photos of her two daughters, Abby and Grace.

From: BONNIE WILD

Date: June 28, 2010 9:01:10 PM EDT

To: tremontgrowingtogether@gmail.com

Subject: Pictures of Abby and Grace Wild picking veg.

Hi Robyn,

Here are some pictures that you can use if you want....we picked a good size zucchini today (about 10 inches long), and 3 beets (all about 2 inches in diameter). A few more beets may be ready by Thursday, so we are going to wait and then take them to the Heart to Heart pantry.

The garden really looks great and is going to produce lots of good vegetables and herbs. While we were there tonight, 2 families stopped over (non-tremont) and they were so impressed with the garden and asked all about it and how the school was using the vegetables....we explained.

Anyway, hope your summer is going well.

Bonnie

Thanks again to Bonnie for sending the email and pictures. If anyone else is interested in contributing to the blog, please let me know.

Don't forget! Interested volunteers are meeting tonight at 7:00 pm at the garden to review the procedures for tending to the garden this summer. The meeting shouldn't take very long, but it will be a nice way for us to get to know each other better. Hope to see you there!

Our First Harvest and Preparing for Summer

2010-05-30T23:49:00.002-04:00

As the school year is winding down, the kids are enjoying their opportunity to learn and contribute to the garden. Here are a few pictures of Mrs. Bergen and Mrs. Persichetti's classes harvesting our first crop of radishes and putting in a few additional plants. A big thank you goes out to Ohio State's Biological Sciences Greenhouse for donating the plants that the kids planted this week.

Here's a look at how the rest of the garden is growing. I sure wish my garden at home looked this good!

Throughout the summer, we're looking for families and teachers to volunteer to help us tend to the garden. We'd like for each family and/or teacher to sign up for one week. The duties will include watering, light weeding and turning the compost. If we get enough volunteers, we'll pair two families together for each week. It's a great way to spend some quality time with your kids while participating in a learning activity.

If you'd like to volunteer, please email me at tremontgrowingtogether@gmail.com. If you have a date preference, please include that in your email too. I'm working on putting a calendar on the blog so that everyone can keep track of the schedule.

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far and thanks in advance to those who are able to help out this summer. The kids are really enjoying the garden and learning a lot at the same time!

Broccoli and Mustard and Peas...Oh My!

2010-05-07T00:23:00.000-04:00

Check out the new growth in our garden!

Mustard

Peas

Broccoli

First Signs of Growth!

2010-05-01T22:08:00.002-04:00

Radishes!

Planting Day

2010-04-25T17:29:00.010-04:00

Even though the forecast was rainy, Saturday, April 24th turned out to be a very productive and exciting day for our community garden. Many dedicated volunteers turned out to help. It's amazing what you can accomplish when everyone works together! Here's a list of our finished projects:

Planted all 6 raised beds with a variety of vegetables. We built trellises and tomato cages too!
Built a compost bin.
Planted shrubs and perennials and mulched at the kindergarten entrance.
Planted hostas and mulched the outdoor classroom.
Weeded all trees in the front of the school and laid mulch in as many as possible.
Planted hostas and myrtle around trees in front of the library.
Planted lilies along the front of the school.
Planted a Buckeye tree in the back of the school to replace one that had died.

A HUGE thank you goes out to all our volunteers. I think we made a pretty good team!

Heidi, Hunter & Isabella Triplett

Eve, Mark, Marissa & Hunter Henson

Claire Whillans

Erin May

Kelly Bue & family
Lisa and Abby Vitali
Mike, Erin and Hannah Masters
John, Kelly, Camille & Lauren Olmstead
Taylor and Robert Buhrts
Carlin Morris
Mary Beth Smith & family
Sue Pfister
Cathy, Antonio, Alexandria and Amanda Ventresca
Steven Wink
Becky, Nathan & Lia Repucci
Rusty & Lauren Fumi
Jenny Anderson
Jan Davis
Amy & Ben Furash
Alex, Berit, Tayte & Toni Borstad
Eric, Anne, Trent & Ethan Sandstrom
Jeanne & Ellie Flowers
Katie & John MacEachern
Nicole Stephan

Wendy & Jack Nichols

Pam & Kevin Bergen

Michelle & Nick Persichetti

Allen Resch

The Helmer Family

Maryann Alford

Robyn, Andy, Drew, Sydney & Katie Harper

We also would like to thank the local businesses who donated food and beverages for our volunteers. It was greatly appreciated!

Arlington Towing

Bruegger's Bagels

Carsonie's

Colin's Coffee

Huffman's Market

Thanks Caribou!

2010-04-19T12:04:00.000-04:00

After testing, we discovered that the soil in our raised beds was slightly more alkaline than veggies like it to be. Our gardening guru, Alex Borstad, suggested that we work coffee grounds into the soil to bring the pH level down a bit. Ideally, we will be able to add a 5-gallon bucket of grounds to each bed before we plant this Saturday. Now, I drink a fair amount of coffee, but to accumulate 30 gallons of grounds, we were going to need help!

Thankfully, the Caribou Coffee on Tremont Road at Kingsdale has come to the rescue by agreeing to collect their coffee grounds for us. We're picking the grounds up daily and should have enough for our beds by Wednesday or Thursday. So, next time you're looking to enjoy a coffee or tea, please think of Caribou. Remember to thank their friendly staff for helping to make our garden a great success!

In the News

2010-04-12T16:40:00.002-04:00

The Tremont Community Garden was featured in an article in the Upper Arlington News on Thursday, April 8. Hope you enjoy it!

Building Day

2010-04-10T22:20:00.011-04:00

The Day Begins

We had a great day today! Our fantastic crew of volunteers arrived at 9:00 a.m., ready to work! I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Everyone worked so well together that we managed to construct and fill 4 beds by noon. Everything looked so good that we thought....hmmm, maybe we should make 2 more! There's plenty of space!

So, that's what we did!

Tremendous thanks are due to everyone who helped out today. We couldn't have done it without you!

Julianne Alford

Jenny, Charlie & Henry Anderson

Pam & Kevin Bergen

Alex, Berit, Toni & Tayte Borstad

Mike Cahill

Carolyn Casper

Rusty & Lauren Fumi

Andy, Robyn, Drew, Sydney & Katie Harper

Michelle & Nick Persichetti

Catherine, Josh & Andrew Shapiro

Bonnie, Keith, Abby & Grace Wild

An extra special thanks goes to Jim Fronk for planning the layout and bed construction, ordering all of our materials and, in general, keeping us on track.

Welcome to the Tremont Community Garden!

2010-04-09T21:50:00.001-04:00

The Tremont Community Garden is a new project at Tremont Elementary School in Upper Arlington, Ohio that will bring together students, teachers, parents and other members of the community to create a learning laboratory for the kids and also provide fresh produce to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. We've created this blog, Growing Together, so that everyone can follow the garden's progress from planting through harvest. We hope you stop by often!

Our work begins tomorrow, April 10, at 9:00 a.m. We'll be building four raised beds on the north side of the school and filling the beds with soil.

On April 24th, we'll be planting the beds. Our crops will include herbs, squash, peas, lettuce, beans, eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes and many other vegetables. In addition to planting the vegetable garden, we'll be tackling a number of other landscape beautification projects around the school. We need lots of volunteers, so if you'd like to join us, please send me an email at tremontgrowingtogether@gmail.com.

We are so excited about this project because it offers endless possibilities for the kids. We're working with the teachers in all grades to incorporate the garden into the curriculum in the areas of science, math, nutrition and art, just to name a few. In addition to traditional subjects, we believe that garden will provide valuable lessons in working together as a community and service to others.

We can't wait to see where this adventure leads us!