Committee members
Sara Osborne - Parent and CSG Garden Co-ordinator
Roberto Armengol - Parent
Traci Martin - Teacher
Nancy Newman - Retired Vice Principal /Volunteer
Amy Downey - Parent
Representative members
Erin Kershner - Principal
Christian McMillen - Venable PTO
Whitney McDermott - City Schoolyard Garden, AMS fellow
Roberto Armengol - Parent
Traci Martin - Teacher
Nancy Newman - Retired Vice Principal /Volunteer
Amy Downey - Parent
Representative members
Erin Kershner - Principal
Christian McMillen - Venable PTO
Whitney McDermott - City Schoolyard Garden, AMS fellow
Our Mission
Teaching our students about environmental stewardship; Illustrating the symbiotic relationship between the earth (the planet) and themselves. Understanding that keeping one healthy keeps the other one healthy. Teaching them "Cradle to Cradle" ideals and permacultural techniques.
By simply taking the classroom out of the school and into the garden. - Sometimes!
By simply taking the classroom out of the school and into the garden. - Sometimes!
Venables Vegetables is a City Schoolyard Garden
- City Schoolyard Garden cultivates academic achievement, health, environmental stewardship, and community engagement through garden-based, experiential learning in Charlottesville City Schools.
- City Schoolyard Garden are a nonprofit organization operating solely on the support of generous individuals, businesses and foundations.
- City Schoolyard Garden have a vision: That young people thrive with the opportunity to engage with nature, to enhance their academic learning through hands-on experience, and to cultivate skills for healthy living. We currently manage gardens at all six Charlottesville public elementary schools, as well as Buford Middle School – encompassing over 8,750 square feet of diverse organic gardens with over 10,000 student interactions each year.
CSG Staff Members
Jeanette Abi-Nader - Executive Director Emily Axelbaum - Buford Garden Educator CSG Garden Coordinators Matt Darring - Burnely Moran Elementary Eiley Patterson - Clark Elementary Anne Russell - Greenbrier Elementary Virginia Berthy - Jackson Via Elementary Dan Sweet and Rick Harden - Johnson Elementary Sara Osborne - Venable Elementary |
CSG Board Members
Lisa Drake - President Brooke Ray - Treasurer Brevy Cannon - Secretary Aleen Carey Matt Martin Katie Reid Tracey Webber CSG Alum Linda Winecoff - CSG Founder Guinevere Higgins - |
City Schoolyard Garden is….a video about growing gardens and growing healthy youth
Favorite gardening quote.
"Knee high by the 4th of July".
Subscribe to the City Schoolyard Garden Newsletter to get regular updates on what is happening in all the City's Schoolyard Gardens.
http://www.cityschoolyardgarden.org/
Also check out the promotional video that has been made about the City Schoolyard Garden
http://www.cityschoolyardgarden.org/
Also check out the promotional video that has been made about the City Schoolyard Garden
NEWS!
The Charlottesville City School Board agreed to budget $25K for CSG for the 2015/16 School year.
April 2013
Whole Kids Foundation have awarded Venable Elementary school garden a $2000.00 garden grant along with Johnson Elelmentary. Thanks to the grant application put together by City schoolyard Garden. This funding will be administered by CSG for Venable to continue their commitment to the school to make gardening possible in every City School!
TOM TOM PITCH
As part of the Tom Tom Foundation week. City Schoolyard Garden were invited to make a pitch for the school gardens at the Tom Tom pitch night. Guinevere, Jeanette, Linda and Matt made such a brilliant presentation that the CSG was awarded 2nd place and were given $3,000.00 to help support our elementary school gardens. |
Cradle to CradleThe term “cradle to cradle” or “C2C” is used to describe a sustainability model which is imitative of natural processes, with the goal of enriching and benefiting the environment even as products are manufactured and used. The underlying principle of this concept is that in nature, there is no waste: when a tree falls, for example, it isn't thrown away, but it is rather broken down into component parts which benefit the surrounding environment. Using cradle to cradle techniques, manufacturers can mimic nature and ensure that little to nothing is wasted.
|
PermaculturePermaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design which develops sustainable architecture/human settlements and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.
The core tenets of permaculture are:
|
And how it all began....
As you probably know our vegetable garden got started one Saturday morning in March 2012, with a group of about 60 volunteers; parents, children and friends of Venable Elementary who came together to add compost, dig over, erect trellises and teepees and essentially break ground on our little piece of green we call Venable’s Vegetable Garden.
What you probably don’t know is that none of us would have been there, if it hadn’t been for the efforts and tenacity of Donna Morris: Ms. Morris Assistant teacher in 1st Grade.
Many also won’t know that Donna was our school’s librarian for 20 years! She is responsible for developing and expanding it into the fantastic resource it is today. Many Venable veterans remember with fondness, when the library shelves were not only brimming with books but topped also with terrariums, cages and aquariums containing anything from spiders to frogs, toads to hermit crabs and maybe the odd rat or two (I’ll have to verify that). Entering the library was a rich and magical wonderland – a sort of library and live natural history museum all rolled into one – something to ‘tickle the fancy’ of any child.
Apart from being Librarian, Donna has for a long time also been active in the garden and worked alongside Nancy Newman and Fran Boninti, where together they have nurtured and managed all the nature gardens all around the school. As the interest in school gardens grew nationally, so did Donna’s, and for many years she wanted to create a vegetable garden at Venable. So in the summer break of 2011, having left the library in the very capable hands of Beth Schrank, Donna (with the help of her son) constructed the 4 raised plant beds, filled them with soil and then she us loose on them.
It was like putting pen to paper – or should we say planting the seed. It goes to show if you have an idea - run with it, because if it’s a good one, your idea will grow, flourish and one day you’ll have red tomatoes……Thank you Ms. Morris!
From everyone.
What you probably don’t know is that none of us would have been there, if it hadn’t been for the efforts and tenacity of Donna Morris: Ms. Morris Assistant teacher in 1st Grade.
Many also won’t know that Donna was our school’s librarian for 20 years! She is responsible for developing and expanding it into the fantastic resource it is today. Many Venable veterans remember with fondness, when the library shelves were not only brimming with books but topped also with terrariums, cages and aquariums containing anything from spiders to frogs, toads to hermit crabs and maybe the odd rat or two (I’ll have to verify that). Entering the library was a rich and magical wonderland – a sort of library and live natural history museum all rolled into one – something to ‘tickle the fancy’ of any child.
Apart from being Librarian, Donna has for a long time also been active in the garden and worked alongside Nancy Newman and Fran Boninti, where together they have nurtured and managed all the nature gardens all around the school. As the interest in school gardens grew nationally, so did Donna’s, and for many years she wanted to create a vegetable garden at Venable. So in the summer break of 2011, having left the library in the very capable hands of Beth Schrank, Donna (with the help of her son) constructed the 4 raised plant beds, filled them with soil and then she us loose on them.
It was like putting pen to paper – or should we say planting the seed. It goes to show if you have an idea - run with it, because if it’s a good one, your idea will grow, flourish and one day you’ll have red tomatoes……Thank you Ms. Morris!
From everyone.