For the past four years John Ramstad has been leading an effort on behalf of Community Action to build a community sharing garden in one of Beloit’s more challenged neighborhoods.
A host of volunteers, college students, and neighbors are now gardening five city lots with all of the produce being shared with neighbors.
Last summer, John started working with a very creative third grade teacher and her class at Merrill Elementary on the topic of gardening. The students helped maintain a small community garden on school property this past summer.
This school year, the students are interested in forming a garden club made up of 15 or so third graders who are in the after school program. Volunteers would coordinate providing basic, fun sessions with this group related to healthy food and gardening. The group would meet every other week or so for about an hour. Meetings have not been firmed up yet, but would most likely be held between 3:30 and 4:30 pm on school days roughly every other week with occasional instances where volunteers would be needed during class times for show-and-tell. Time would also need to be set aside for the support team to meet and plan.
John will be working the program but needs additional folks to join in. He has set up an area under indoor light at the school where the students can grow greens and propagate plants so they can garden all winter. In the spring students will start sets for the school's garden.
Part of our charter as Master Gardener volunteers is education. Would you be willing to be part of a team to help with this kid-oriented educational effort?
For information, contact John Ramstad, MGV, (608) 313-1335
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