Vernon School

History

The Vernon Garden was created in the spring of 2007 by more than 600 volunteers from the neighborhood, local churches, PTA, student body, families of staff members, Home Depot employees, Northwest Natural Gas employees, SMART readers, and people involved with Hands On Portland. Former Vernon teacher Gage Reeves, garden coordinator Sarah Canterberry, then Principal Mrs. Miller, and a committee of teachers, community members, and experts volunteering their time had spent more than a year getting ready for the build day. The garden was expanded in 2009 to include a Native Garden on the east side of the school building.

Today, the Vernon Garden is a vibrant and mature garden with blueberry bushes, grape vines,strawberries, an apple tree, asian pear tree, 30 raised vegetable beds, and vermicomposting worm bins. The Native Garden boosts a mature alder tree, evergreen huckleberries, bachelor buttons, mock orange, goldenrod, and lupine, among various other plants. Both gardens provide the perfect opportunity for hands­-on experiential student learning in an outdoor environment.

Our Vision

It is our hope that children will become more connected with the natural world, and find a lifelong source of enjoyment by experiencing the pleasure of working in the school garden. We find value in green areas, fresh food, and taking responsibility for other living things. We are delighted that so many members of the community support us in this vision.