Bear Creek K-8

Garden Leader: Christine Harvey – charvey@outofthebox-co.com

Bear Creek K-8 school garden is in it’s fourth season currently working with students from Kindergarten through 4th grade. We were so excited about starting our garden and were able to getting grant funding from the Jefferson Foundation and also raise money through the Whole Foods bring your own bag program. This raised enough money for us to not only build 6 large beds at the front of our school but also 6 grow tables for starting seeds indoors, purchasing a rototiller, building compost bins, and creating a bear mosaic in front of our garden beds. We have plans this year to cover our garden bench with a mosaic and have a pergola built to grow concord grapes.

Our garden projects start each year in February with grow tables in various classrooms. In May, we have our Mother’s Day plant sale to share what our students have grown as well as raise money to keep the program operating. We then progress outside, when the weather warms, for seeds and plants to go directly in our garden beds. Throughout the summer, school families adopt the garden for a week to water, weed and often enjoy the fruits of their labor. When it’s back to school in August, we start our bi-monthly Youth Farmers Market as well as cooking classes with the students. Finally in late October to early November we clean out the beds and prepare them for a winter rest.