We have to make them grow!

In June of last year, Ms. Susie started helping us create a garden for the After-School Academy. A group came in and worked alongside our kids to create a "lasagna garden" because the dirt was too hard to till.

Planting in the middle of the summer in Dallas didn't seem like the best idea, but we started with what we had. When the school year started back up, Ms. Susie continued to come and work with a couple of kids at a time showing them how to take soil samples, stake plants, and check the rain gauge. At the beginning, most of the kids' interaction in the garden was pretty basic. Only a couple of kids could go out at a time and close supervision was required so that kids didn't walk through the garden (and on top of the plants). Basic instruction was given and a one or two kids were given the opportunity to water at Ms. Susie or Ms. Danielle's instruction.

When I walked out to the garden the other day, I saw several kids in the garden, moving the wheelbarrow, shoveling and carrying the dirt...all while carefully walking through the rows of the garden to make sure they weren't stepping on any plants.

I'm seeing more initiative on the kids' part. The garden is becoming their own and they are becoming the experts in the garden. Ask them about worms or composting and they do a pretty good job of explaining it.

As you see in the video, the kids are also eating the vegetables produced in our garden. Right now, the garden is loaded with variety--chard, onions, garlic, lettuce, sweet peas, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes...and more that I'm probably forgetting. As we move into this summer, we plan to do more with cooking and tasting the vegetables from our garden with the goal of working toward healthier eating habits.

The kids love the garden...and I love what the kids are learning from the garden!

Shine On: Ladaysha

Last Thursday afternoon, I took my students out to water the garden.

Little did I know...I would be getting a lesson in gardening.

I thought it was simple.. grab the hose and spray the plants.

Ladaysha, one of our garden apprentices, quickly showed me there was more to gardening than just "grab the hose and spray the plants".

She explained to her classmates that we needed to check the rainfall catcher. She made sure we picked up the trash and anything else that didn't belong in our garden. After, we collected all of the things that didn't belong she instructed everyone on the proper techniques of watering the garden. Not only did she teach us how to water the garden she came up with a strategy for each person to have a turn to water the garden. "You can stand right here, Tytiana will water first, then she'll pass it to you, and then you water your section". I was really impressed by this. I was already anticipating having to devise a plan for each person to have a turn to water.

Ladaysha continued to impress me. Hakim, one of Mr. Phillip's students, joined us in the garden. Hakim was anxious to pick peas and peppers. Ladaysha said "Hakim...let me show you how to check to see if the vegetables are ready to be picked". She took a few minutes to give Hakim one-on-one instruction on how to pick the veggies. She then allowed Hakim to pick a pod of peas. His face lit up with joy and excitement. He was incredibly proud of the 6 peas he picked. So proud that he asked for a ziploc to hold his peas so he could show his mother.

Seconds after his mother walked in the door....he exclaimed "Mommy, look what I did...I picked peas from the garden. Will you cook them for me? "

She was just as excited and proud of him.

Kudos to Ladaysha for teaching everyone about the garden!

Gardening for Good

Today we had a special guest help us prepare for our very own Garden!! The garden will be out in the back of the University of Values building and it will be the responsiblity of each of the students to make sure the garden is maintained.

We have officially started to make progress on the garden. Today the students went outside to measure the dimensions of our garden. The children worked together to measure and hammer in stakes to show the gardeners where to till up the land. We learned today what tilling means. We also learned about team work as we shared in the many tasks to achieving a perfect garden.

Roseland Community Garden update

Ladaysha and Niemen are two of our Garden Apprentices this year. I am truly amazed and impressed with what they are doing in the garden!

Today they showed me the black-eyed peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalepenos that are growing in the garden. From the videos you can see that we still have a little work to do on telling the difference between the different vegetables, but they are quickly becoming expert gardeners. As I quietly walked up on them, hoping to get some good pictures, they were so intently involved in putting the thermometer and rain gauge in the ground and staking the tomatoes that they didn't even notice I was there.

Check out the two videos below to see our garden and what the kids are learning:

Gardener's Apprentice

We've got some great things going on at the After-School Academy!

This morning, Channel 8 featured a segment on our Garden and Gardener's Apprentice program. See it here:




by CHRIS FLANAGAN / WFAA-TV

Posted on January 13, 2010 at 10:29 AM

******

DALLAS — Children in one Dallas neighborhood are getting down and dirty with their "garden of dreams," a patch of paradise that has turned out to be a labor of love.

Ladaysha Robinson and her friends are growing radishes, lettuce and turnips in the shadows of skyscrapers.

"It's hard planting a garden," Ladaysha explained. "You have to water them some days, and you have to put mulch around them, keep them covered when it's winter."

Ladaysha and her friends don't have to go far to garden. It's in their apartment complex at the Roseland Townhomes.

The Gardener Apprentice program, which is run by Central Dallas Ministries' After School Academy, offers the children a chance to learn about fruits and vegetables and to also learn about what it takes to grow them.

"It's a great way to feel like they've done something, to have some success in the growing and learning process," said volunteer Susie Marshall.

The Gardener Apprentice program hopes to encourage the kids to try new foods and get them more excited about fresh fruits and veggies, which may not always be easy to find.

"We decided to do the garden because we noticed a lot of the stores, especially in South Dallas, don't have the produce and the vegetables that are high quality and fresh," said Janet Morrison of Central Dallas Ministries.

Ladaysha and her friends are hoping to soon cash in on the fruits of their labor by selling some of the produce at a local farmer's market.

E-mail cflanagan@wfaa.com


Make sure and watch WFAA, Channel 8 on Monday, January 25 at 6:47 a.m. It will feature our Library/Bookstore!

Garden Time Lapse

I say it all of the time! I have the coolest staff ever!

I received an email today with a link to a youtube video. I thought it was a video An had found on someone else's garden...until I recognized the "Plant" mural and the fencing...and realized it was our own garden! Danielle and An came up with a way to create a time lapse video to watch the garden grow!

I'm hoping we can perfect it a little and make the time lapse over a longer period of time so it will really show how quickly the lettuce, peas, chard, broccoli, onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes (yes, we really have all of that!) grow.

For now, enjoy the video An created for us!

"Garden in the City!"

The teens are reading the book Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. This book has a lot to do with gardening in the city. So we decided to take the teens to the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fairpark so they could get more back ground information about gardening in the city, as well as gain information about maintaining their garden at the ASA.

MTU went to Texas Discovery Gardens for one of their spring break fieldtrips. The Texas Discovery Gardens were offering many different and activities throughout the week of spring break. One of their themes for the week was “Garden in the City,” and because of this they offered many garden related activities, and information sessions relating to gardening in the city. Some of the things that they learned about were composting, planting wild flowers, greenhouses, and etc. The teens enjoyed the Texas discovery gardens, and they were able to gain a lot more knowledge about gardening in the city!

Through Rain, Sleet, or Snow

Well it only drizzled a little so it wasn't that bad of a day. We had a mission to try and find things to help us keep our own garden here at UV moist with the temperatures going over 100 degrees so many days in the week. The kids had not seen compost actually "cooking" on a pile but did know what the finished product looked like. They got to feel the "heat" of decomposing matter coming from the stack.

In these shots we are assembling the mix of brown materials, green materials and spraying it with water. Our packet label says in six week this will decompose (a new word the Green Team guides introduced) and would be usable in our garden as rich organic materials. Yum!!!

Our younger kids were fascinated to find that worms digest vegetation and also have some "body fluids released" like other animals. Well they had to find out today. We had lots of soap and warm water for cleanup. You can really discover things at the Texas Discovery Garden.

What is your inspiration?

"Miss Janet, what is your inspiration?"

One of the teens had taken the Flip video camera to interview people on our field trip. "What is your inspiration?" was his question of the day.

"You guys," I replied. I saw a slightly odd look on the videographer's face like, "What is this lady talking about??"I tried to explain, though I don't know that I was able to express my sentiment in a way that completely described the depth of my statement. I probably can't do it much justice here either, but I'll try.

Youth combined with education is my inspiration. I see how much the two together can accomplish. I see kids who are...

• Quick. Watching the teens handle technology that they've never touched before and take to it so quickly. 
• Knowledgeable. Seeing the kids in our After-School Academy garden and listening to them explain the difference between grub worms and earthworms, tell about the tea mixture they created to make the garden grow, and explaining how diatribes can get rid of ants. 
• Passionate. Listening to young adults who teach the kids get as excited as the kids about what they are teaching. 
• Growing. Seeing the maturity of a college student in a text telling me, "Everything has a reason," and, "Something better will come along," 
• Demonstrative. Hearing a teacher at the elementary school encourage the kids to get to the After-School Academy because, "They're learning so much about science there! They are my students who speak up in science class."
• Eager. Hearing about teens who, before going to see Maya Angelou on Friday, rush home from school and immediately go to the computers to begin looking up information on her.
• Appreciative. Appreciation is often covert. I feel love and appreciation when a middle school boy acts like he doesn't want to participate yet has a sparkle in his eyes as he does participate and learns something new. 
• Excited.When a few kids begin pushing the other kids to learn and rise to expectations we've set, the many other frustrations go away (at least for that moment). I am thrilled when I am told about different youth who are having extraneous conversations about Nobel Peace Prize winners, life skills they've learned, technology, and game nights.

Youth and their minds inspire me. People in poverty seeking to overcome inspire me. Knowing a kid has potential and pushing, pushing, pushing until that kid begins to see his/her own potential motivates me beyond anything I could explain.

*They* are my inspiration.

Our day in the garden!

Today was one of the best days working in the garden we may of ever had. We put layers upon layers of mulch and dried leaves on top of soaked newspapers. The kids took to it very well; they even got the teachers to stop hiding in the shade and get out in the sun to help. They had so much fun planting the different foods and watering them. I want to have more days like this but with more shade.

MTU Book Club

Every Monday evening Mid Teen University has a book club at various eateries throughout the North Dallas area. We host the book club at different eateries so that we can challenge their taste buds, and expose them to various foods that they might not have chosen to try if they were out eating on their own. For the past few weeks they have been reading the book “Seedfolks” by Paul Fleischman. The teens are not only enjoying this book because they can relate to the garden elements, but they are personally relating to the story and struggles of many of the individuals in the book. They often relate some of the challenges that are expressed in the book to their own life and personal challenges that they experience in their community.

At the first book club meeting we asked the teens to answer the question “What does the word Seedfolks mean to you?” Mid Teen University student La’Kyra Pattin wrote, “I think the word Seedfolks means something that you start off with important in your heart that is small, and then as it grows; just like how plants grow in a garden.”

Thank you, ARAMARK!

Great partnerships are what makes our organization work so well. A couple of weeks ago a group of City Year staff came in early Monday morning to prep many of our sites at Roseland for a group of 100 ARAMARK volunteers who would arrive on Thursday to paint murals on some of our walls and add a new plot to our already thriving garden. The volunteers also took on the huge task of painting the entire inside of the gym/community center as well as creating raised flower beds for the church across the street.

I have to commend Danielle Evans, Children's Education Coordinator, and Tameshia Rudd-Ridge, Digital Connectors Coordinator, for spending so much time and effort on this project. All day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Danielle and Tameshia worked with the City Year group to choose the designs and create the spaces for the ARAMARK volunteers to work. By the time Thursday morning came along, Danielle and Tameshia were up and at work ready to go by 6:00 a.m.

You can see most of their work in the above video, though the video doesn't really show how void of design our walls really were beforehand. My favorite part of the video is at the very end. As the ARAMARK and City Year workers finished up, the kids began coming in from school. I walked up to the After-School Academy to see the kids walking up to the group of ARAMARK people, hands extending to greet with their typical formal greeting.

Kudos to ARAMARK and City Year for spending their time getting to know us and creating murals, bookshelves, and garden plots to help us continue making our program great!

Rock Painting

Today, Ms. Anna had an idea to paint rocks to put outside in our garden. So Ms. Anna and Ms.Lauren's classes went outside to gather smooth rocks to paint. We didn't find many smooth rocks but gathered as many rocks as we could. We all worked very hard on our rocks. There were so many different designs! There were ladybugs, spiderman symbols, and many more.



I believe that we all had fun creating our art. -Vanessa

First Day
After the first day of the new ASA school year, I sit and reflect. I started to think about why is the ASA important to the Roseland Community. In my opinion, there are not enough words that can fully express the importance. Then I remember what Janet had told us and reminded us on the first day. That we are here, to “Change the trajectory of people’s lives….by equipping kids to dream and envision who they can and will one day become.” The evidence is seen every day on the faces of all the young people who enter the ASA door.
We are planting seeds in the Roseland Community, maintaining the stamina to give that extra little nurturing a seed needs to become a flower and eventually a garden. The planting of seeds is not just a “one man operation” but a team effort. A big part of why today went well was because of team work. Sandra Day O’Connor stated that “we don’t accomplish anything in the this world alone… and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.”

To the AmeriCorps team, Anna, Tameshia, Phillip, Katrina, and Terrence, “hats off to you guys”. Thank you for a great first day.

What's going on at Roseland

Last Monday we kicked off our education programs in Roseland. We've got GREAT things going on!

The After-School Academy (ASA) is in it's second year at Roseland. Danielle Evans is heading up the effort and doing a wonderful job.

Anna Hart, Phillip Hawkins, and Tameshia Ridge are our amazing Americorps members who are helping her manage our 30 kids and numerous classes. The ASA has partnered with Susie Marshall with the Gleaning Network of Texas. She is helping our kids create a fantastic community garden that we are hoping will become a mini-farmer’s market (run by the kids) to the Roseland community. We are also partnering with Shawn Williams of Dallas South News who will be helping our kids become junior reporters, with the hopes/plans of them reporting out on the Dallas South News site in a month or so.

At the building across the water park area (2101 N. Washington) on the first floor is the Roseland Library/Bookstore. Katrina Hobbs, another Americorps member, is doing great things there. Katrina is at UTA majoring in Education. She grew up in Roseland and has been a part of Central Dallas' programs for 14 years. She’s so excited about beginning to work with kids on their reading. We also sell books there for 25 cents for paperbacks and 50 cents for hardbacks for adults and children.

We also have a Teen University in that same building. Terrence Brooks, another Americorps member is going to school at Dallas Theological Seminary. He plans to run his own non-profit one of these days, but I'm hoping we'll be able to sell him on sticking around here. He’s amazing with the teens. He’s working on helping them with their reading and school work. In addition, we just received a grant in partnership with UTD. UTD will provide us with 2-4 college students to work with the teens on homework, college preparation, career research, and taking college trips.

Finally, we received a grant from One Economy in conjunction with CTIA and Comcast. It’s a Digital Connectors program. Tameshia, who also works in the ASA, will be running the program. Tameshia is awesome at technology and is extremely excited about teaching the teens. The program is for 14-21 year olds and focuses on several skills. Technology is the big focus, but they also has a leadership, financial literacy, and service component. Through the program, the teens will become certified by Cisco Systems to be able to rebuild computers. They will also be creating a mobile app and be creating videos throughout the program. I am so excited we were chosen to be a part of that and can’t wait to see what happens once the group mobilizes and becomes technology point people for the Roseland community.

Whew! So…please! Come visit us!! Great things are happening and I would love to show you what they look like!

We'll keep you posted!

Hiring Americorps members--Immediately!

The Central Dallas Ministries’ Education Department is looking for dedicated, committed, and creative individuals who wish to be a part of a program that moves youth forward by focusing on social skills, college, careers, through incorporating innovative technology, doing projects (like gardening, blogging, reporting, etc.), providing fun reading activities, and creatively interacting with academic-type classes.

There are 8 part time (25-30 hrs/week) and one full-time (40 hrs/week) position available:

Part-time positions require a high school diploma with a preference given to those working on or already having a degree in Education.

Full-time position (40 hrs/week) require a high school diploma with an ability to oversee programs, write curriculum, organize staff scheduling and working directly with students in a variety of areas. 

If interested, please fill out application at www.cdmamericorps.org and forward application and resume to Janet Morrison at jmorrison@centraldallasministries.org or fax to Janet Morrison at 214-824-5355.

Multiple Program Coordinator

Full-time position--40 hours/week (Sept. 1-July 30)

Position to be filled 8.31.10

Hours: 12:00-8:00 Monday-Friday (some Saturdays)

The coordinator is in charge of developing, overseeing, and helping implement all programming in the building and ensuring the program maintains a focus on programming that develops education, college/career, and social skills. He/she will monitor the youth's academic and social development, communicate progress with each child's parents, and work with each program to adjust curriculum accordingly. The Program Coordinator will be responsible for recruiting volunteers and ensuring any curriculum they use maintains the program focus. In addition, the coordinator will ensure program data is collected and reported.

After-School Academy Teacher

Part-time position--25-30 hours/week (Sept. 1-June 3)

Position to be filled 8.31.10

Hours: 1:00-6:30 Monday-Friday (some Saturdays and later evenings)

The ASA Classroom Teacher will be responsible for planning, creating, and implementing activities in a project-based approach to teach Kindergarten through 5th grade students. Teachers must maintain a strong focus on "going green," and will assist with creating lessons for their students in the Learning Garden, Farm Stands, Library, and Computer Lab. Teachers are expected to focus students on improving social skills (caring, manners, and greeting), college and careers, critical thinking, and project-based learning within their classroom. 

Librarian

Part-time position--25-30 hours/week (Sept. 1-June 3)

Position to be filled 8.31.10

Hours: (varies slightly) Monday-Friday 3:00-8:00 and Saturdays 10:00-2:00

The Librarians will work together to create programming and facilitate reading clubs for elementary, middle, and high school students. The Librarians will ensure that money is collected for the sale of books and create strategies that draw people of all ages into the library and ensures all Roseland neighbors know the library programming, hours of operation, and location. The Librarians will also oversee behavioral management of library participants and engage volunteers.

Teen U and Mid-Teen U Facilitator

Part-time position--25-30 hours/week (Sept. 1-June 3)

Position to be filled 8.31.10

Hours: Monday-Friday 3:00-8:00 Saturday 10:00-2:00 (hours may vary depending on activities)

The Teen U (9th-12th grade) and Mid-Teen U (3rd-8th grade boys) Facilitators will supervise and assist with programs to prepare middle and high school students mentally, socially, and academically for college. The Facilitators will assist with homework, connect youth to programs/events that further their stated interests, and collaborate with other organizations to offer programming with the goal of preparing youth for college and post-secondary life. The Facilitators will establish relationships and partnerships with the parents to help them understand and be able to assist their child in preparing for college/post-secondary. The Facilitators will recruit volunteers as needed to facilitate programming and will develop programming that includes evenings, weekends, and summer.

Technology Facilitator

Part-time position--25-30 hours/week (Sept. 1-June 3)

Position to be filled 8.31.10

Hours: Monday-Friday 3:00-8:00 Saturday 10:00-2:00 (hours may vary according to other staff schedules) 

The Technology Instructor will supervise and assist with programs to prepare elementary, middle, and high school students mentally, socially, and academically for the world of technology. He/she will facilitate the Digital Connectors program that combines leadership development, digital education, and community service to prepare youth, ages 14-to 21 years old, to build the technical proficiency of their respective communities, and serve as a bridge to digital opportunities. He/she will also create educational technology opportunities for elementary, middle, and high school students.

It's Snowing in Ant Town

A few weeks ago Ms. Susie approached me about a problem with the fire ants in the garden (and the entire community); then we thought of a solution; then we applied it. Today we adventured around the community as organic superhero exterminators, ridding our grounds of fire ants while protecting our environment at the same time. This is the culmination of the previous post I made about ants and diatoms, and here is what the kids did to put thought into practice.

~Mr. Chris

All We Need Is Lov--Diatomaceous Earth?

We're starting a project today to deal with the ants in the garden, so we spent the day today learning all about pests, what they are, why they're here, and what we should do with them. In the afternoon we had the opportunity to create some papier mache ants, and we'll also make some papier mache diatoms soon. Why diatoms? Because what better way to take care of the ants than organically?

~Mr. Chris

Dallas Arboretum – Garden and Wild walkabout

Above is a montage of photos from the ASA first field trip. They went to the Dallas Arboretum.

-Chrystalin (3rd, 4th, 5th grade ASA teacher)

Life is a garden...Dig It!