AlSalam Day School

MISSION (March 2013)
To create a teaching learning garden that will be useful in many ways. To be named the Cultivation Station because it will be used to cultivate soil, plants, minds, community and spirituality.
Teachers, students and community volunteers will all work together to create a learning process and lesson plans that will produce useable consumables for the school cafeteria for healthier lunches and snacks. While teaching basic life skills, principles of being earth friendly, and health conscious. Year after year the garden will continue to grow adding additional features and beds over time. Possible future features could include an outdoor classroom, on site composting, rain harvesting, chicken coops and student and community created art.
The learning opportunities with such and asset are endless.
UPDATE progress as of September 2013
We currently have 4 raised beds in place and planted by the students this fall. Thanks in part to a grant provided by Gateway Greenings' Youth Garden Grant, donations and discounts from our local Lowes store, funds from our PTO, and the hard work of our volunteers.
We have two dedicated garden leaders, over 25 student members in our garden club, and a dedicated teaching staff who are utilizing the new garden in the curriculum.

NEW GOALS

In order to continue with our mission as mentioned previously, we would like to continue to grow our garden by adding rain barrels and a pergola, for our outdoor classroom area, to a newly constructed building near the garden, and by adding a shed to store our tools. If funding permits we would also like to add new soil to a large area for planting larger plants such as pumpkins, corn, cantaloupe, and watermelon. With this grant we can continue on our path to creating a wonderful teaching/learning garden that will continue to serve our school and the community.