Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
Practices
- Education and Training: youth education
- Soil Management: composting
- Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, community development
Proposal abstract:
Project Abstract
Our newly adopted science club and many supporting members of the community have a goal – to build a sustainable environment through which students can engage in hands-on learning. Science club's mission statement is: "Helping Communities Grow." A community garden/food forest would benefit our low socioeconomic demographic in numerous ways. In addition, OJSHS will be offering Plant Biology/Horticulture electives next year, with emphasis in permaculture and sustainable design. Our garden will serve as an outdoor classroom where students compost school lunch waste, plant, maintain, and harvest- donating the goods throughout the community. Our students helped write this grant.
Detailed Project Plan and Timeline
Our school and community plan to teach students through hands-on learning. We will do so by providing an environment where practical applications of horticulture, permaculture, and sustainable design are taught by a variety of professionals and methods. Students, with the help of members of our community, will develop our community garden/food forest. We have sought out many local resources to help with fundraising because our students feel that this will be a generational project (community outreach for fundraising includes: local churches, rotary club, school fundraisers, grants, and a newly awarded activities account from our school board). This generational aspect is indicated by our students choosing the latest completion date that NCR-SARE grant offers on the “My Proposals > Cover page” portion of this grant proposal (Date: 12/31/23).
Development of Science Electives
USD 341 will be offering electives: Plant Biology and Horticulture during the 2015-2016 school year. Our school garden will serve as a classroom for these electives. Curriculum is being developed to engage students in planning permaculture techniques, learning about various aspects of soil chemistry/plant biology, building practices, and maintaining our garden site.
Fall Semester 2014-15
Science club has already achieved many objectives that we have set in order to complete our goal. Earlier this year (October), science club conducted a compostable waste analysis for one week to determine the amount of compostable waste that the HS lunch generates on a weekly basis – the results were staggering (student data sheet attached). Lunch Waste Analysis, Oskaloosa HS
On November 10, 2014 at the monthly USD 341 BOE meetings, science club was awarded a 2-acre plot of land on school property to start our community garden. Members of science club have been designing layouts for a keyhole garden with raised beds, to be filled with various hearty crops. We will be conducting a soil analysis (in class) for the location of our future garden. We have researched what we will plant. Judy and Jon Henry (owners of A Time to Plant greenhouse and school board member) have helped our students determine the best plants and trees for our purpose. They have also agreed to teach a couple of classes to HS science electives/community about choosing/planting the correct crops a few times/year. We have already received an invoice for plants to be purchased for the 2015 planting season. Students have received a bid from our local lumberyard for building materials for the raised garden beds that they will be building.
Spring Semester- 2015
During this time frame, students will get to start true hands-on learning. Science club members will build our frames for our raised beds and plant our garden and trees. We will be mulching our walking paths and making our garden look aesthetically pleasing. We will meet with our local churches, rotary club, and other members of our community to form a, weekly rotating, summer committee willing to help maintain our garden during the summer. Steve Moring of Vajra Farms L.L.C. (Permaculture Training Center & Botanical Sanctuary) has agreed to meet with science club 2-3 times/year to help with future planning and teach basic permaculture principles. Students will also be drawing blueprints of possible classroom designs to build at our garden site. Students will be researching the cost and application of: R-values of recycled building materials, water catchment systems, and alternative energy sources (solar panels) to build an “off the grid” alternative classroom setting/public building at our site.
Summer- 2015
We will work to support our site and harvest as a community. We plan on digging a swale the length of our site to help with water maintenance. We will be using a local excavating company, which has agreed to guide students through the surveying process of digging our swale. Nearing the end of summer we hope to have gathered enough resources to start building our garden site classroom where future garden electives will be taught.
Fall Semester-2015 & Beyond
This will be the first year that we will offer electives- Plant Biology and Horticulture. We will continue to maintain our garden – using its goods for our Culinary Essentials course, taught by colleague Lynnette Abbott, who has also agreed to teach lessons on canning. We will share our goods with the community. We hope to continue building our site classroom, using LEED certified materials and practices, including solar panels for power. We will purchase an industrial composter (Earth Tub) to handle the amount of biomass that USD 341 produces.
Resources Used
The most valuable resource to this goal becoming a reality is our youth. In our rural school of ~150 students, over 50 signed up to be involved with Science club. These are their ideas and goals. They have worked hard to start these projects, staying after school to conduct research for their ideas on multiple occasions. Their commitment to this project is paramount to its success, and they are committed.
Science club has reached out to many groups and individuals in the surrounding community. This all starts with our school board allowing our students to invest in their own education and to think outside the box. Our new principal, Brent Mumford, used to teach science and has been influential to me as an educator, helping me realize that we need to allow our students to have more say in their future – they need to plan, they need to organize. Principal Mumford has been instrumental in the process of developing curricula for our future electives of Plant Biology & Horticulture.
We have presented to our local Rotary chapter, which has agreed to donate time and funds. Our local Methodist church pastor, Melinda Harwood, has agreed to rally workers and funds. Owners of A Time to Plant greenhouse, Judy and Jon Henry have agreed to donate time and a lot of effort to see that our students grow. Chairman of Kaw Permaculture (kawpermaculture.com), Steve Moring, has agreed to impact young people through teaching Permaculture practices and design. Steve Moring has been a very valuable resource through this grant writing process, as he has received a SARE grant.
Several local businesses have reached out to help Science club: Oskaloosa Lumber, A Time to Plant, and King’s Construction have all agreed to help alleviate costs of labor for our future community site.
Outreach
We will reach out to others about our project in numerous ways. I am chairman for our Enhanced Learning Through Technology team. We are creating a website for Science Club and our Community Garden efforts. We will hold classes at our site to break the barriers of the traditional classroom by inviting community members who have experience with agriculture to help teach our students and community. Steve Moring has agreed to teach several classes/year to students/community about permaculture design. Judy and Jon Henry have agreed to do the same. We plan on donating our food throughout the community to reach out to our low socioeconomic demographic. Science club then plans to visit other school grow programs and invite other schools to come visit ours to collaborate and exchange ideas. A portion of our harvest will go to our culinary arts program to help assist their budget for food ingredients. In return the culinary arts teacher has agreed to start canning in class. Our FACS program, along with the help of Science club and the community, has an idea to make and jar their own salsa's and marinara sauces to be sold to raise funds for future science club projects. Science club has many ideas for our future community building at our garden site such as: hosting team dinners, being offered for use for other organizations to host events, but most importantly – serving as a place to learn how to grow/harvest healthy foods and lifestyles. Science club will also reach out to younger grades (pre-k through 8th) by peer modeling/teaching future generations to take care of what they have started and explaining the importance of sustainability.
Student and Community Impact
Our new Oskaloosa Community Garden will impact students and our community in numerous ways. First, our students will impact our community by showing their ability to take care of something. This will spark an ability to believe in themselves by growing their own food and feeding the community. As an educator, my purpose is to inspire lifelong learning and to create “Agents of Change.” Giving students a stake hold in their community will help them understand true altruism and its purpose in society. This project will empower students by: increasing their capacity to take care of and grow food, think about their environmental and ecological choices, collaborate and organize, and invest in their community and education.
Secondly, the community will impact their youth by modeling positive societal ethics. A variety of businesses, organizations and professionals have stepped up throughout this process, volunteering both time and funds. Science club has reached out to professionals who can provide valuable knowledge, experience, and resources to help our students understand the importance of working to build community relationships.
Our community will measure our community garden’s success in several ways. First, enrollment in our associated garden elective and science club will be documented from year to year. Our community volunteers and donations will be documented annually also. We will perform quantitative analyses (in class) weekly to determine the amount of biomass returned to the Earth, instead of being placed in a landfill. But most importantly, we will measure our success by the morale of our school and community, by teaching our students the importance of being less wasteful, and by the knowledge gained from learning to grow our own food and by taking care of our neighbors.
Project objectives from proposal:
Our school and community plan to teach students through hands on learning. We will do so by providing an
environment where practical applications of horticulture, permaculture, and sustainable design are taught by a
variety of professionals and methods. Students, with the help of members of our community, will develop our
community garden/food forest. We have sought out many local resources to help with fundraising because our
students feel that this will be a generational project (community outreach for fundraising includes: local churches,
rotary club, school fundraisers, grants, and a newly awarded activities account from our school board). This
generational aspect is indicated by our students choosing the latest completion date that NCSARE grant offers on
the “My Proposals > Cover page” portion of this grant proposal
(Date: 12/31/23).
Development of Science Electives
USD 341 will be offering electives: Plant Biology and Horticulture during the 2015-2016 school year. Our school
garden will serve as a classroom for these electives. Curriculum is being developed to engage students in
planning permaculture techniques, learning about various aspects of soil chemistry/plant biology, building
practices, and maintaining our garden site.
Fall Semester 2014-15
Science club has already achieved many objectives that we have set in order to complete our goal. Earlier this
year (October), science club conducted a compostable waste analysis for one week, to determine the amount of
compostable waste that the HS lunch generates on a weekly basis- the results were staggering (student data
sheet attached). On November 10, 2014 at the monthly USD 341 BOE meetings, science club was awarded a 2-
acre plot of land on school property to start our community garden. Members of science club have been designing
layouts for a keyhole garden with raised beds, to be filled with various hearty crops. We will be conducting a soil
analysis (in class) for the location of our future garden. We have researched what we will plant. Judy & Jon Henry
(owners of A Time to Plant greenhouse and school board member) have helped our students determine the best
plants and trees for our purpose. They have also agreed to teach a couple of classes to HS science
electives/community about choosing/planting the correct crops a few times/year. We have already received an
invoice for plants to be purchased for the 2015 planting season (quote attached). Students have received a bid
from our local lumberyard for building materials for the raised garden beds that they will be building. (quote
attached).
Spring Semester- 2015
During this time frame, students will get to start true hands on learning. Science club members will build our
frames for our raised beds and plant our garden and trees. We will be mulching our walking paths and making our
garden look aesthetically pleasing. We will meet with our local churches, rotary club, and other members of our
community to form a, weekly rotating, summer committee willing to help maintain our garden during the summer..
Steve Moring of Vajra Farms L.L.C. (Permaculture Training Center & Botanical Sanctuary) has agreed to meet
with science club 2-3 times/year to help with future planning and teach basic permaculture principles. Students
will also be drawing blueprints of possible classroom designs to build at our garden site. Students will be
researching the cost and application of: R-values of recycled building materials, water catchment systems, and
alternative energy sources (solar panels) to build an “off the grid” alternative classroom setting/public building at
our site.
Summer- 2015
We will work to support our site and harvest as a community. We plan on digging a swale the length of our site to
help with water maintenance. We will be using a local excavating company, which has agreed to guide students
through the surveying process of digging our swale. Nearing the end of summer we hope to have gathered
enough resources to start building our garden site classroom where future garden electives will be taught.
Fall Semester-2015 & Beyond
This will be the first year that we will offer electives- Plant Biology and Horticulture. We will continue to maintain
our garden- using its goods for our Culinary Essentials course, taught by colleague Lynnette Abbott, who has also
agreed to teach lessons on canning. We will share our goods with the community. We hope to continue building
our site classroom, using LEED certified materials and practices, including solar panels for power. We will
purchase an industrial composter (Earth Tub) to handle the amount of biomass that USD 341 produces.