This year, Gardening Know How's School and Community Garden Sponsorship Program was fortunate enough to help support 20 gardens with $1,000 each. These gardens represent a wide array of community and school programs, from Florida to Saskatchewan and many places in between. Each has its own unique and powerful story, and we're excited to share them with you. Every other week we highlight one of our sponsorship recipients to help spread the word about how amazing they really are. This week we're featuring the "Let's play in the dirt" Gardening Club.
Back in 2015, the Dowell Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia first launched the "Let's play in the dirt" club, a school-wide initiative for students in grades Pre-K through 5 to experience gardening and healthy eating first hand. Since then its quarter acre of land has grown to include 15 raised beds, a small greenhouse, a compost area, and an outdoor classroom. Teachers integrate the garden into classes whenever they can, and the fruits and vegetables the students grow are prepared and served for lessons on nutrition and alternatives to junk food.
The garden club is such a success, in fact, and so impactful on the lives of students, that it only makes sense to expand it. The club would like to make growing easier, and to make teaching more fun and involved. With that in mind, the next steps are to install a dripline irrigation system, and to construct an outdoor area for cooking demonstrations. That's where Gardening Know How comes in.
With the grant from Gardening Know How, the "Let's play in the dirt" Gardening Club will be able to expand its capabilities, teaching elementary students how to grow, prepare, and eat healthy, locally grown produce.
We're proud to be able to help them realize their dream.
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