Wish List

WISH LIST FOR CHEROKEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GARDEN

Our next big garden work party will be Friday Saturday and Sunday April 8 9 and 10,2011. Times to be announced or let us know when you can work and what you can do. If you see this post after those dates be assured we will still need your help just call 9186913223 for details. As always we are ready to do whatever the teachers and students need us to do!

In the Bird banquet area south of the school
Plant a cone flower bed for finches and or a hummingbird bed or other bed to attract a particular bird butterfly etc
Plant native wildlife friendly vines (such as native honeysuckle) on the south fence (behind the trees on the ridge south of the school)
Add birdhouses baths and feeders to the garden
Write grants to buy benches plants seeds tools binoculars and field guides etc
Mulch the bird feeder area to minimize mowing around the feeders and trees and benches
Build a bird feeder pavilion to house several types of feeders, extra feed, water etc
Strip turf, dig new beds for coneflowers sunflowers and hummingbird plants. Let Turley Bloom can help with seeds.
Add benches for birdwatchers.
Cut out bird shapes and paint or supervise students painting them then mount them on the south facing wall as an outdoor field guide, repeat with butterflies and flowers. See the barn behind the county extension office for an example.

In the Nectar and color garden at the southwest corner of the school
Build and install a strong trellis with a seat on the south west corner of the building so the wisteria can climb it and students can watch butterflies from the seat
Add painted wooden butterfly cut outs to the walls for an outdoor field guide (see above under bird banquet)

In the Front foundation plantings
Plant groundcovers under the shrubs along the front of the school preferably low maintenance, native, wildlife friendly plants that will choke out weeds. Let us know what plants you can donate or ask us what plants we can supply.

In theVegetable garden
Prepare the fruit and vegetable area for spring planting, generally tidying up.
Also the vegetable area could use soaker hoses laid out in a user friendly manner, a “faucet” set up so it is easy to run a hose to the faucet on the building and easy to loop the hose on a hose holder inside the garden when not stretched out to the faucet
Compost bins
Tool storage shed
Prepare more vegetable beds either raised beds or lasagna gardening
Greenhouse and or potting bench as part of the tool shed
Prune overhanging branches
Cover concrete area with a wooden table
Repair and or build benches trellises birdhouses

General Help we can use in the Cherokee Elementary School garden
Write or purchase a curriculum
Put together a book of projects such as how to build a bird house etc.
Help with signage including a map of a self guided tour of the landscape and plant naming signs
Organize and lead a wildlife census on the school property and or Audubon Christmas bird count, backyard bird count, butterfly count etc
Lead garden celebrations such as cookouts, harvest festivals, wildlife celebrations, garden tours, plant sales, seed swaps and propagation days
Prepare a bed and seed more of the prairie garden (north of the school east of the courtyard)

Adopt a bed
Let us know which area of the Cherokee garden you or your family or organization would like to adopt to care for this summer or indefinitely

Throughout the garden
Add edging and mulch for existing beds. Edging can be just digging a trench and weeding along or around a bed or adding a metal wood or other type barrier to keep weeds out.

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

All of my art is subconscious, from tiling the bathroom to the Cherokee garden a theme my subconscious has been working on will gradually emerge. As I was sorting my photos of Cherokee and pulling in other photos to supplement where something has not yet happened at Cherokee that I expect to happen this summer I realized it is all about food.

I started with the bird banquet, wanting to plant 88 sunflowers in honor of a friends’ 88th birthday and inspired by her daughters donation of $88 to the Welcome Table Community Center and gardens. I found photos of cone flowers we can put in a bed for seed eating birds like goldfinches near the bird feeders. I organized photos of Boy Scout Troop one planting trees to celebrate their one hundredth anniversary thinking about how many animals eat acorns and other food provided by the trees they planted. I found photos of milkweed to show what will grow where we planted swamp milkweed plants and other milkweed seeds last fall and how monarchs will use the plants during their amazing migration. I moved on around the corner to show the color garden which holds a lot of nectar plants to fuel the butterflies for flight then on to the vegetable garden where we grow food for ourselves.

Beauty is food for the spirit. Watching a caterpillar consume “your” plant and transform into a butterfly is food for compassion and generosity. Watching a beautiful sunflower brown and droop its head in the fall then feed birds all winter feeds our ability to see beauty in the entire cycle of life not just the first flush of bloom. Leaving the seed heads of cone flowers in the garden all winter instead of “tidying up” the garden feeds our ability to look at things from someone elses point of view. Is it a mess or is it lunch? Watching a mockingbird mock and a blue jay scold and a hummingbird dart feeds our sense of wonder at the diversity of life and surely grows our curiosity.

Starting plants from the garden to share with others (with seeds or cuttings or divisions) can feed the students sense of their own ability to give, to make a difference, to be a citizen of their neighborhood.

In our own vegetable garden at Cherokee integrated pest management causes us to provide a home for the toads and frogs we find there so they can eat some of the insects that may eat some of our human food. Charity asks us to donate 10% of our produce to the food pantry or a community cook- out and feed our neighbors. The earth asks us to feed back to the soil what we take in the form of last year’s tomato vine and this year’s cucumber peel. The earth will be hungry if all we do in our vegetable garden is take and not give back, the soil will become depleted and it will be harder and harder for us to feed ourselves if we don’t feed our soil. It is all about food! Feed your own soul, body family and community spirit.

Come garden with us! Our big weekend will be April 8, 9, 10 when we will be gardening all over our area; we need folks to come for as long as they can to help and learn and share. Come see all the opportunities we have for you to grow food for yourself and your family. Free food will be provided for volunteers. Also check us out on Saturdays; call 9186913223 to find out where and when we will be at Cherokee or the Welcome Table Kitchen Garden Park or the Welcome Table Community Center or our other sites here in far north Tulsa and Turley. Let us know if your neighborhood needs some plants or wants to start a “Let it bloom” organization, Let Turley Bloom will help get you started. Check back here for more to come!

http://beyondthefarm.org/growing/check-out-our-video/