Gardening Know How Sponsorship Recipient: Dowell Elementary School
This year, Gardening Know How's School and Community Garden Sponsorship Program was fortunate enough to help support 20 gardens with $1,000 each. These gardens represent a wide array of community and school programs, from Florida to Saskatchewan and many places in between. Each has its own unique and powerful story, and we're excited to share them with you. Every other week we highlight one of our sponsorship recipients to help spread the word about how amazing they really are. This week we're featuring the "Let's play in the dirt" Gardening Club.
Back in 2015, the Dowell Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia first launched the "Let's play in the dirt" club, a school-wide initiative for students in grades Pre-K through 5 to experience gardening and healthy eating first hand. Since then its quarter acre of land has grown to include 15 raised beds, a small greenhouse, a compost area, and an outdoor classroom. Teachers integrate the garden into classes whenever they can, and the fruits and vegetables the students grow are prepared and served for lessons on nutrition and alternatives to junk food.
The garden club is such a success, in fact, and so impactful on the lives of students, that it only makes sense to expand it. The club would like to make growing easier, and to make teaching more fun and involved. With that in mind, the next steps are to install a dripline irrigation system, and to construct an outdoor area for cooking demonstrations. That's where Gardening Know How comes in.
With the grant from Gardening Know How, the "Let's play in the dirt" Gardening Club will be able to expand its capabilities, teaching elementary students how to grow, prepare, and eat healthy, locally grown produce.
We're proud to be able to help them realize their dream.
Gardening tips, videos, info and more delivered right to your inbox!
Sign up for the Gardening Know How newsletter today and receive a free download of our DIY eBook "Bring Your Garden Indoors: 13 DIY Projects For Fall And Winter".
Shelley Pierce was a writer for Gardening Know How, contributing to hundreds of articles for the site.
-
4 Trailblazing Garden Brands To Support On Small Business Saturday And Beyond
Discover some of the most exciting independent garden brands that deserve to be championed not just on Small Business Saturday – but every day of the year.
By Melanie Griffiths
-
Womanswork - Strong Women, Strong Gloves
Have you heard of Womanswork? They're a woman-owned business that's been empowering women (and making gardening gloves) for over 35 years.
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
The Grow Garden at GIVE - 2022 Grant Recipient
This alternative school in Georgia is using its garden to teach kids in all new ways.
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Common Ground Community Garden - 2022 Grant Recipient
This Texas community garden has been getting people out of their apartments and into nature for 12 years.
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Valley Daycare - 2022 Grant Recipient
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Douglas Discovery Garden – 2022 Grant Recipient
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Ben Franklin Elementary School – 2022 Grant Recipient
This hundred year old garden in Cleveland, Ohio is still going strong with a unique educational program for fourth graders.
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Kin Park Community Garden - 2022 Grant Recipient
Read about the small town in Vancouver that's bringing its people together with fresh produce and garden plots.
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Elmsdale Community Garden – 2022 Grant Recipient
The Elmsdale Community Garden is striving to bring food security to rural Nova Scotia, one garden bed at a time. Read their story here.
By Caroline Bloomfield
-
Gainesville Giving Garden - 2022 Grant Recipient
The Gainesville Giving Garden was born from a dream of freedom from food insecurity during the height of covid. Read its story here.
By Caroline Bloomfield