Inside Urban Green

Everett M. Dirksen Middle School Goes Green With EarthBoxes

Click here to see the video on Facebook.

Props to CBS EcoMedia for giving the Everett M. Dirksen Middle School an EcoZone Green My School award that included an EarthBox Garden. The Rosa Parks Elementary School in San Francisco was also a Green My School winner.

These EarthBox sub-irrigated planter (SIP) school gardens should get much more publicity than they do. They offer a much better way to create school gardens rather than breaking up concrete to make in-ground gardens.

SIP gardens are much more versatile than land locked gardens. Their portability allows them to roll inside the school during the winter where they become part of the science program. SIPs are year round gardens rather than just warm season. They can also roll home if the school chooses to have an outreach program over the summer recess.

In most cases dirt gardens are an unnecessary waste of money, particularly with the state budget crises we are currently enduring across the country.

via www.facebook.com

The Green Team from Everett M. Dirksen Middle School in Calumet City, IL made this slideshow/video to document their experiences with their EarthBox garden.

PS 107 Sunshine Garden: EarthBoxes And Custom Planter Boxes

via www.facebook.com

This is part of the “Sunshine Garden” at PS 107 in Park Slope Brooklyn. It is an interesting story of how EarthBoxes became a part of this concrete jungle garden. PS 107 is much like the contest winning Rosa Parks Elementary school garden in San Francisco. Like so many city schools across the country, it’s all about cement.

There was no intent originally to create the garden with EarthBoxes. It was originally designed for wood planter boxes. The school found the money for custom planter boxes and they were actually built. You can see one of them on the right.

As often happens in city schools, unexpected construction intervened. As happened at PS 102 in Bay Ridge, scaffolding needed to be erected, in this case for window replacement. This had a major impact on the “built-in” planter box garden. The solution was the acquisition of portable, productive EarthBox sub-irrigated planters (SIPs).

Rosa Parks Elementary Gets Greened With EarthBoxes

CBS EcoMedia (click and watch this video too) gets a big cheer from me for picking a school like Rosa Parks Elementary in San Francisco as its Green My School contest winner.

I see far too many public schools in higher income neighborhoods with trendy dirt gardens getting much more recognition than they deserve. Designer gardens cost far more money than they are worth and add little to the educational content of the school. 



Why waste significant money breaking up paved surfaces when it is not necessary. Misguided parent activists and school principals should be called to task for their folly.

Plants in sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) like the EarthBox will grow anywhere there is enough sun. Add water and kids and you have a highly productive edible garden. In fact, it will be more productive than in-ground growing. Kids will also learn some good science and water conservation while experiencing the joy of eating fresh vegetables.

What you see here in this video is representative of city schools all across the country. Schools with lots of paved surfaces and courtyards like Rosa Parks are generic here in Brooklyn and the rest of the New York boroughs.

Thanks primarily to The Growing Connection (a UN organization) we have a significant number of schools with EarthBox SIP gardens like the one at Rosa Parks School. However, the local media, foodie bloggers and horticulture community ignores them. There is little or no news coverage for anything other than dirt gardening. Is this ignorance or personal bias?  

I do not know of one local institution including our vaunted botanic gardens that offers a class or course on the subject of modern food production methods like SIPs. If you want to talk about food injustice, start here.

CBS EcoZone Green My School Contest

PS 102 SIPs Are Home For The Summer Recess

Bob Patterson of The Growing Connection (TGC) conducting an EarthBox workshop for parents and teachers of PS102.

Thanks to The Growing Connection (TGC) (part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO) and the Center for Urban Greenscaping (CuGreen) there are 25 sub-irrigated planters (EarthBoxes and utility bucket SIPs) helping to grow some fresh food for local Brooklynites this summer. In the process, they are demonstrating the superior productivity, ease of use and water conserving benefits of SIPs.

The SIPs home base is the PS 102 garden but due to limited access over the summer recess, it is not the best place to be. That is why the SIPs are growing fresh vegetables at the homes of parents and teachers over the summer.

Children who live at these homes will know more about modern urban gardening methods by the end of summer than most adults. The sad commentary is that there is no New York educational institution teaching about the subject. In my view, there are people who should be reprimanded or even lose jobs over this social injustice.

As any reader of this blog can easily discover, sub-irrigated planter systems are a successful reality of urban food production across the country. Our educational system seems to be either not tuned in or there are people who are practicing obstructionism for some reason known only to them

The Brooklyn Eagle published an article about the PS 102 garden recently.

via www.brooklyneagle.com

Help From ‘CuGreen’ Founder

Local neighborhood resident and gardening landscaper (edit urban greenscaper) Bob Hyland has been immensely helpful, said Sheri. “The Center for Urban Greenscaping (CuGreen) that I founded last year was instrumental in helping make this a modern garden with the donation of a sub-irrigated planters (SIP) system and significant pro-bono consulting help,” explained Hyland.

Earthbox Kids Learning About Good Nutrition And Food Security

Growing Food Security in Alberta (GFSA) is a Canadian non-profit organization working to increase the availability of fresh food and thereby improve food security.

GFSA experienced the benefits of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) through  a project known as EarthBox Kids and blogged about it.

I do not know of a better way to teach and encourage good nutrition and food security.

In my view, food security starts with each of knowing how to produce at least some of our own food. We should learn this at an early age. All kids should be given the knowledge of modern SIP systems. A good motto for parents and teachers is "give a kid a SIP". It is a gift that will last a lifetime.

via gfsa.wordpress.com

Could a simple planter box change the way kids think about food? Based on what I’ve seen and heard so far, yes. Since implementing a project known as Earthbox Kids in a local Fort Vermilion school, I am certain that these lucky children will have a new perspective on food and it’s origins.

Woolly Pocket Vertical School Gardens

Woolly School Garden from Drew Falkman on Vimeo.

I must admit that this is a school garden idea that is growing on me. Pun intended.

Although I've yet to product test Woolly Pockets the concept obviously relates to the needs of space short city schools.

Like sub-irrigated planters (SIPs), Wooly Pockets do not require breaking up paved surfaces and they avoid the risk of contaminated soil. This makes a lot of sense that so many dirt huggers seem to ignore.

I need to do some hands-on work with them to experience their horticultural functionality. I'm also very interested in their portability. Can they easily go home with teachers or students over the summer is the question? It appears that they can.

via latimesblogs.latimes.com
Website: WoolySchoolGarden.org

From an L.A. Times blog...

I’ve been smitten with Woolly Pockets ever since they came on the market in the spring of 2009. The fuzzy, brightly colored planters create an instant vertical garden without any complicated construction. Just fill the pockets with dirt, pop in a seedling or some seeds, and water. They're simple, they look great and they're green -- made of recycled plastic bottles.

EarthBoxes: A School Garden In Brooklyn

 

Kudos to EarthBox and P.S. 107 for publishing this about the EarthBoxes in the school's garden in Brooklyn. Read the following particularly if you are a parent, educator or administrator involved with the education of urban children. 

It would be good to get Mayor Bloomberg to visit and learn that there's more to urban gardening education then publicity events with Rachael Ray. I have nothing but praise for what Rachael is doing but dirt gardening is not likely the future of fresh food in the city.

Gardening in the ground is more of a throwback to a bygone time in rural America. Modern methods such as sub-irrigated planter systems are much more appropriate to urban life in the 21st century. 

The use of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) in the P.S. 107 school garden is a living and growing example of a more modern approach to urban food production be it in a school yard, on a rooftop, a paved driveway or on a balcony.

SIPs put urban food production directly in the hands of individuals of all ages and incomes whatever the color of their thumbs may be.

via www.themulch.com

The concrete schoolyard at P.S. 107 in Brooklyn, New York has been transformed into a robust vegetable garden! Teachers and parent volunteers began the EarthBox project together last summer.   

Michele Israel, Co-Chairman of the PTA Garden Committee, describes the evolution of the project: "Although P.S. 107, an urban public elementary school in Park Slope, is two blocks from Prospect Park, most of its students live in apartments and have no access to hands-on gardening opportunities.  

The Mayor Of New York Leading Us Into the 20th Century

In looking at this photo it stretches my imagination to believe that Mayor Bloomberg made all of his money in the field of technology. But don't worry we've now got foodie Rachael Ray on the job. With what they're learning here these kids will be well trained for future careers at McDonald's and Home Depot.

There are better ways to teach about local food, plant science, technology and the environment. Contrary to popular belief, the word garden is not synonymous with dirt.

via www.nyc.gov

Mayor Bloomberg and Rachael Ray today announced a series of initiatives to help our City’s youth eat healthier and understand where their food comes from. The new programs, supported by Rachael Ray and her Yum-o! organization, will help schools build a garden or connect them to an existing garden and provide cooking and nutrition instruction to young New Yorkers. May 13, 2010
(Photo Credit: Edward Reed)

School Gardens: Dirt Not Needed

If you are a school principal, teacher or parent you should know about year-round sub-irrigated planter (SIP) gardens like the EarthBox. You can use SIPs outdoors during the summer and indoors year round to create school gardens at modest cost.

Don't let the dirt-huggers tell you that you need to rototill the lawn or break up paved surfaces to have a very productive school garden. Our greatest need in the city is to educate future scientists rather than dirt farmers.

Teachers who are trained in the use of SIPs can use these systems to do a much better job of teaching plant science and environmental topics. This is particularly true as related to the urban built environment where land is scarce and often contaminated. 

via www.duprey.cps.k12.il.us

I am happy to announce that we received a small grant from the Consortium to Lower Childhood Obesity (CLOCC) of $1,336 to implement a project- “Project G.R.O.W. (Gardening to Reduce Obesity and promote Wellness). We have targeted the 5th grade, who are receiving nutrition classes from Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Medical Center. Ms. Nunez and Diaz have agreed to implement the project. With the funds, we will purchase Earth Boxes, soil, plants, and special growing lights to start an indoor vegetable garden in the classroom. We will also have a culminating event where we will take the students and their parents to The Kids Table to cook a healthy meal using the vegetables they harvest. We are very excited about this project and hope to replicate it in other grades if it is successful.

Gloria Román, Ed.D.
Principal
Ana Roqué de Duprey Elementary

Trust Trey! He Knows!

Trey Buckman knows something that most New York City gardeners don't know about because of a retrogressive education system that teaches only about digging dirt and drain holes.

Read what Trey had to say in an interview with the Sarasota Observer. Michelle Obama would do well to recruit him for her anti-obesity initiative.

Even better, let's groom him to be a future Secretary of Agriculture. Now that I've read his stump speech, I trust him. How about you?

Do you have advice for someone who is new to EarthBox?

“It’s going to be weird. You’re going to think, ‘Why is there a box?’ You’re going to think it’s ridiculous. But trust me, and trust the box.”

via www.yourobserver.com

Third-graders at Gulf Gate Elementary have spent the past two seasons planting, fertilizing and harvesting everything from cabbage to strawberries inside EarthBoxes. On April 20, they talked gardening with The Sarasota Observer.

Trey Buckman

What’s the best thing about growing an EarthBox?