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Mabelvale Garden Update »Mabelvale Garden Update This past week, Karl Heinbockel and fellow Delta Garden Study interns have had the opportunity to escape the fluorescent lights of the office and work in the bright sunshine at the Mabelvale Magnet Middle School gardens and greenhouse. In spite of the oppressive heat, there is still much to do to prepare for the coming school year at Mabelvale Magnet Middle School. We are removing the residue from last year's crops (and weeds!) and replacing them with a buckwheat cover crop to revitalize the soil. The buckwheat cover crop suppresses weed growth and once tilled in will add important organic material back into the soil. This allows new plants the ample nutrients necessary to blossom with great vigor. Healthy soil has been our focus this summer. In the fall, we will concentrate our efforts at producing a variety of food crops with the help of our students at Mabelvale! In the coming weeks, we will be continuing to clean up and organize the garden and greenhouse spaces so that this school year will be a great one for Delta Garden Study's showcase garden - Mabelvale!

FrontPage Article »See the Progress on our New Gardens! Don't forget to visit our Garden Schools’ webpages for pictures and stories about the progress of our new gardens. Liana, Kevin, Ryan and Cale have been busy developing their sites, planting a late summer garden, and getting to know their communities. Many thanks to all of their community members who have donated materials, equipment and labor!

About The Delta Garden Study »About The Delta Garden Study The Delta Garden Study is a $2 million research study funded by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service designed to prevent childhood obesity and social risk behaviors, and improve academic achievement, in middle school children in the Delta and Central regions of Arkansas.

Progress at Highland Middle School

Another beautiful and productive week just zoomed by and we cannot believe there is just one more week of garden classes. While we’re at the end of the road for the garden curriculum, the most productive gardening season has just begun and I never imagined I’d be saying “more school please”; our students are such awesome learners and gardeners! Over the past few days, we had a planting frenzy and put out summer squash, peas, watermelon, flowers, watermelon radishes, and beets. Students also constructed our new garden mascot: the turtle-spiral herb garden, which they claim holds all of the garden knowledge in it’s head full of nourishing soil. And, after begging for more pesto throughout the year, we sent many of our students home with basil starts so that they can plant them and recreate their own delicious green sauce! Following in suit with our planting streak, students studied the process of plants growing to seed and how to preserve the seeds thereafter. We also discussed the Svalbard (which is Finnish for cold coast) Seed Vault, an underground refrigerated space in Finland that houses all of the world’s seed varieties in the case that the earth suffered from an asteroid or some other massive disaster and we needed to salvage our agricultural system. Pretty cool, huh?

Highland Student Quotes

This week’s student report is compiled from the writing of all DGS 6th graders. They were asked to write two paragraphs on their thoughts on the garden and what they would like to do next year. Following are some of their opinions.

“What I like about the garden is… everything. I love working in the garden, its exercise and fun. Next year I would like to see more fruits.”

“My favorite thing to do in the garden is to help the chickens. I would like to get other animals in the garden. I think we need to donate plants to the children’s hospital and other places.”

“Things I liked about the garden was we got to go outside and work in new environments. What I would want next year is to have more time than we got this year… I think the garden is amazing and people should take more of a part in it.”

“For next year it would be cool if we could grow watermelons in August and September. In October we can carve pumpkins for Halloween. For November we can grow corn. Wait, can you even grow corn in the fall?”

“The best thing is how the garden produces food that we get to eat every day at lunch. Next year, I really want to go to the garden, not just on our regular garden days, but during other classes. It would let us experiment things with the garden in other subjects.”

“Something I’d like to learn in the garden is famous NFL players who had gardens. Because I like NFL. Also because I like famous NFL players.”

Garden Program Specialist

Kevin Keen

As an Arkansas native, I am extremely excited about the opportunity to teach students about various aspects of raising their own food, living a healthier lifestyle, and enjoying outdoor education. I am shocked each week when I visit the grocery store to purchase vegetables (I just moved to Cherokee Village in June and have not had time and/or space to develop my own garden) at the high price of food to feed just myself.

FoodCorps Service Member

Jackie Billhymer

I am thrilled to be working at the Highland Middle School as part of the Delta Garden Study in AR. After growing up in St.Louis, MO, I moved to the brisk tundra of MN where I earned my B.S. in Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. While teaching youth about healthy eating through urban farming as an intern for Growing Power, Inc. and instructing yoga in Minneapolis, I witnessed the joy and motivation that health education elicits in people. Consequently, I am dedicated to continue building and empowering communities by providing access to holistic nutrition education.

Meet the Staff

Pictured from left to right: Mr. James Floyd, Superintendent – Dawn Trivitt, 8th grade Science Teacher – Carrie Shell, 7th Grade Science Teacher – Martha McClure, 6th Grade Science Teacher – Mrs. Inez Lunsford, Middle School Principal

Highland Middle School Website

To find out more about Highland Middle School and their garden study, visit their website at http://highlandrebels.k12.ar.us/.

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