Schoolhouse gardens rock

Community gardens (and personal gardens for that matter) are a good thing. They encourage a community to come together to create a beautiful space that everyone can enjoy. The ones that include edible items? Well that's just a big fat bonus.


I was thrilled to hear that Amber Houser, a science teacher at Fulton High School in North Knoxville, and some of her fellow teachers and students are working on creating a schoolyard community garden with the idea of possibly providing some fresh food for use at the Fulton cafeteria and maybe even hosting a farmer's market if their garden yields enough.

And in true community garden fashion, Amber is inviting the community to be a part of the process. The teachers and students would love to have some help from those who know about gardening especially in the planning stages -- how to create the garden, what to plant, how to raise money to cover the costs, etc. etc.

So if you're interested in helping out, there will be an informational meeting with Amber and some of the student leaders at 4:15 p.m. in room 403 at Fulton (Woodland at Broadway). Some of the discussion topics will include organizing some neighborhood workdays, funding, composting and timeline for planting.

What a great way to introduce community gardening to high school students. I can't be there Thursday, but I want to encourage everyone who's interested to attend. I'll try to keep you informed on the progress of the garden.