Juliann Gardner is on a mission to help people learn to enjoy the art, simplicity and satisfaction of growing their own food. The owner of One Small Garden in Terrace Park, Juliann doesn't think you can start too young either. She brought a team of volunteers and donated items to Cincinnati Union Bethel's Millvale Early Learning Academy to create a red cedar, raised garden bed for the school.
Each student planted a marigold around the edge of the garden, as Gardner and her volunteers explained to the students, to entice the bugs away from the vegetables in the garden.
Gardner and the volunteers planted kale greens, mustard greens, parsnips, and chard.
Teacher Felicia Sullivan says, The children really enjoyed working in the garden. The next day they were thrilled to go back and look at it. And when I asked, ˜What helps a garden grow,' they replied, ˜Sun, seeds, soil and water.' They had learned what helps a garden grow.
For Gardner, this kind of learning is important too. She will come out periodically to teach the kids about what's growing and how to care for the garden. Each class will take a day to water.
Gardner's plan is to use the extra dirt to put raised beds at family homes in Millvale, so that the impact for the children moves beyond the school day. She wants to help teach families so that they can help feed the family from their own garden.
