Coming back to a weedy garden can seem like a daunting task, especially in the frenzy that is the back to school season. But alas, back to school also means more helping hands that are eager to get digging in the garden. Cleaning out a weedy garden with SYG resources and a class of helpers […]
With the weather cooling down, summer plants producing bountiful harvest and kiddos giddy to get back to classrooms, schoolyard gardens across KC are ready for their yearly back to school prep. For coordinators, that means enrolling, making a planting plan, attending a demonstration workshop and prepping garden beds for use in the fall! Complete your […]
The dog days of summer are here in Kansas City and schoolyard gardens are showing it. Juicy tomatoes are in abundance, as are vibrantly green cucumber and zucchini plants. Yum! One school exemplifying the bodacious summer harvest is Accelerated Schools of Overland Park. Ms. Lusher coordinates the garden at ASOP: “Our environmental science class […]
For this week’s school spotlight, KCCG reached out to Schoolyard Garden Coordinator, Susan Maynor with EPiC Elementary to get the perspective of a coordinator leading the garden at their school. EPiC Elementary has 19 raised beds on campus along with a butterfly garden and a container garden. “As part of EPiC Elementary’s vision to equip […]
In March, we went out to assist Liberty Academy with a garden build. They were a lively group of students, led by a vibrant instructor named Ms. Richardson! It was a chilly morning, but we made it through. Thanks to lots of laughs, teamwork, and some music playing in the background. Right off, Ms. Richardson […]
This summer the Frontier School of Innovation planted peppers, tomatoes and zinnias in their garden beds. The school uses these beds for grades K-5 to garden and experience growing their own snacks and beautiful flowers. The garden is located near the playground, so students are able to take time to appreciate the growth of their […]
Mize Elementary dug in deep this Spring and reaped the benefits, with a bountiful harvest at the end of the school year! Their garden steward, Ms. Andrews, has been a superstar in her efforts to ensure gardening success. She attended our Spring planting demonstration, here at KCCG, and took those lessons back to school. Not […]
“I saw this on my hike through some wetlands this morning!” Jared Cole says pointing to a native plant in his rain and butterfly garden. He explained that the space dedicated to their schoolyard garden was at the bottom of a hill, unusable for a ball field or playground space. Since it received plenty of […]
For the next two months, our SYG blog will spotlight a few of the wonderful schoolyard garden sites we have the pleasure of assisting. Each week, we’ll zoom in on a different school, sharing and celebrating their garden stories. We hope you’ll be as inspired as we are by these rock star gardeners! I’ll kick […]
With all the excitement from the NFL Draft in town this year, it seemed everyone was affected in some way. KCCG and SYG were no exception! The NFL partnered with us and Lowe’s to construct garden beds at Central Middle School. With intensive planning, the late April morning sprang upon us all and we readied […]
My name is Mackenzie Haas and I am excited to announce that I am a Schoolyard Gardens Coordinator with KCCG. I am grateful for the opportunity to invest in my communities using sun, water and soil to expand access to healthy, fresh food throughout Kansas City. Day to day you can find me taking pictures […]
Hello, hello! My name is Taylor Pond and I’m the new K-12 Schoolyard Gardens Coordinator. Though I have only been with KCCG for a little over a week, I am certain that I’m exactly in the place I’m meant to be. This role is helping me to fulfill my dream of becoming a healthy and […]
Often people will comment on how fun my job at Kansas City Community Gardens sounds, and I will agree. I love working towards our SYG mission of building gardens with students who then get to grow their very own veggies. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of the Schoolyard Gardens program for […]
This week we’d like to spotlight an event held yearly by one of our community partners, Cultivate KC. They are holding their 18th Annual Farmers & Friends Meeting on Saturday, February 11th from 8am-1pm at Plexpod Westport Commons. You can check out the agenda, speakers, sponsors, and other details as well as register here: https://www.cultivatekc.org/events/annual-farmers-friends-meeting-3/ […]
Winter months and cold temperatures provide a perfect time for gardens to rest and our soil, with all the wonderful little microbes living within, to rejuvenate. This rest period is crucial and truly something to be thankful for as it readies the garden for the next round of seeds and seedlings you’ll plant in the […]
Last week, Center High School’s garden club toured Kansas City Community Garden’s Beanstalk and greenhouse. Typically, we host tours through the Beanstalk between March and early November when the plants are alive and growing. Still determined to come out and visit, I warned them that the Beanstalk will look a lot different during the winter […]
This fall we asked schools to try out the Taste Test Tool for another season to find out which veggies students would like to eat again. New this season, we also asked students, “which veggie are you trying for the first time?” We had 28 schools submit taste test results during the two month-long competition. […]
