Thank you, Peaceful Valley!

Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply donated a large box of seeds to the school gardens in our district. We are very grateful for the more than 210 packets of organic seeds that were given to John Yehall Chin Elementary School's garden.

This is approximately half of the seeds we received. They included multiple kinds of tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, lettuce and other greens, peas, beans, onions, herbs, melons, and flowers.

Peaceful Valley also gave us some calendars with pictures of fruits and vegetables. We look forward to seeing these growing in our garden.

For every ten packets of seeds that Peaceful Valley sells, they donate one packet to a school garden. Please support Peaceful Valley and help us thank them for their generosity. You can visit them at http://www.groworganic.com/.

Gardeners in Room 205

Ms. Mac's first grade class has adopted a barrel in our garden. They planted seeds last week. They will be watering the barrel and monitoring its progress. We look forward to seeing their corner of the garden flourish!

Room 205 planted carrot, lettuce, and marigold seeds.

More daffodils

Just a few weeks later, the garden is full of daffodils!

Planting seeds of healthy eating

Australian researchers have found that children who participate in school garden programs are more likely to be willing to try new foods.

Read the article here:
http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/3592-school-gardens-broaden-kids-palates.html

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung in the JYC garden.

We planted some bulbs earlier in the winter, noticed sprouts a few weeks ago, and then returned from the long weekend to see a daffodil in bloom.

Thank you, Sloat Garden Center!

In November, Ms. Jung's third graders made cards for the staff at Sloat Garden Center on Pierce Street to thank them for their help with our garden.


The store manager, Morris Jackson, offered our school a discount on our purchases. This meant that our grant money stretched further than we originally expected. Morris and his staff also gave us much advice and helped us make decisions about what would be appropriate to plant in our garden, and when and how to do it. Most of our garden volunteers and classroom teachers are novice gardeners, so Sloat's help gave a significant boost to the knowledge, skills, and confidence of our team.


I hand-delivered these cards myself, along with a large card made by Ms. Hong's second graders. Morris was very grateful for the drawings and the messages written by all the children. (He particularly appreciated reading that he is "brave, nice and smart!")


I apologize that I didn't write down the names of the students who drew the pictures before delivering the cards, so the pictures aren't credited. Thank you to all of Ms. Jung's students for the lovely cards they made!

Thank you, Lowe's!

In October, Ms. Au-Yeung's third graders wrote letters to Lowe's Toolbox for Education to thank them for granting JYC $7000 to start our school garden.

All of the letters were heart-felt and all of the pictures were lovely. Here are a few excerpts to represent the class (and the school).

Kevin said, "Giving our school garden supplies is like Thanksgiving or Christmas in the middle of October."

Majella wrote, "I had so much fun that I wish I had a do over button."

From Isa:

Drawn by Jasmine:

Written by Benjamin:

Drawn by Benjamin:

From Julia:

Drawn by Kevin:

Written by Ivan:

Drawn by Ivan:

From Anita:

Written by Laura:

Drawn by Laura:

Written by Holly:

Drawn by Holly:

Lemons and Carrots

The Garden Club had an important task in December. We planted a dwarf Meyer lemon tree. It may be a few years before it bears fruit, but we will nurture it until it does!

Making room for the tree

Our lemon tree in its new home

We also harvested more carrots. The students were amazed at how big the carrots grew and how delicious they were.

Autumn garden updates

Under the watchful eye of our Garden Club, the JYC Garden thrived throughout the autumn months. We have many students who love to help us, but we are still looking for more adult volunteers. No garden knowledge or experience is necessary, just a willingness to help out with some simple tasks.

Students watered,

and swept,

pulled out the dead leaves,

and were assisted by school staff and volunteers.

The lilac vine is not very happy, but it still managed to blossom.

Carrots have grown well, and the students have found them tasty.

Snap peas are almost to the top of the fence and are starting to flower. We look forward to enjoying them in the spring.

Sloat Garden Center donated their leftover pumpkins after Halloween, and our garden looked very seasonal throughout November.

Introducing the JYC Garden Club

Many of the barrels in our garden belong to a specific class in our school, and are tended by the students and teacher in that class. As we have grown, we have added planters for everyone to enjoy. In order to take care of these common areas of the garden, we decided to form a Garden Club. It will meet on certain Thursdays during the lunch period. Students, parents, and special volunteers will work together on various gardening tasks.

Our first meeting of the Garden Club was on Thursday, September 29th. Ten students from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades worked along with several adult volunteers and Mr. Lee.

Filling new barrels with soil

Raking the soil

Planting seeds

Thinning the calendula sprouts

Pulling dead leaves off the passionflower plant

Working as a team to sweep up leaves

Pitching in to help

We look forward to many more successful meetings of the Garden Club. We had more student volunteers than we could accommodate at once in our small garden, so we plan to give all interested students a chance to participate. If you would like to volunteer and assist our students, please contact the school office with your interest.