December 13, 2024 • 34 mins
Discover the transformative potential of school gardens with us as Amarina Guerrero, program director of the Youth Grow program at Growing Gardens, shares her inspiring journey with our listeners. From her early days in Oregon, where she developed a deep bond with nature, to her college years that unveiled her passion for school gardens, Amarina’s story is both a personal journey and a professional mission. She recounts a pivotal moment in a school garden that sparked her dedication to bringing these green spaces to all schools. Through innovative activities like wheelbarrow relays, Amarina has seen how school gardens cultivate not only plants but team spirit, problem-solving skills, and inclusive learning environments.
Witness the evolution of the Youth Grow program as it adapts to meet the diverse needs of students and educators. Amarina discusses the creation of a dynamic 72-lesson curriculum tailored for K-5 students, emphasizing life skills and cultural relevance. The pandemic era posed challenges that reshaped their approach, prompting a focus on social-emotional learning and the power of adaptability. Learn about engaging initiatives like classroom baby chicks, and discover the resources available for those eager to start their own programs, including the School Garden Coordinator Certificate Training. Together, we emphasize the essential role of community collaboration in transforming gardens into vibrant educational landscapes. Join us and be inspired to cultivate change, one garden at a time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Radical Root podcast hosted by
the 501c3 nonprofit GrowingGardens, your go-to resource for
all things radical gardeningand food system advocacy.
Welcome to the Radical Root.
My name is Bea, I'm thedevelopment manager here at
(00:24):
Growing Gardens and I'll be yourhost for today's episode.
This month on the Radical Root,our topic is creative
approaches to radical gardening,and the idea is that you don't
even have to grow a garden tomake an impact.
We've lined up some amazinginterviews with our team just to
share some ideas.
We've lined up some amazinginterviews with our team just to
share some ideas and highlightthe many different approaches
(00:46):
that you can take if you want toget involved in radical
gardening.
Food system sovereignty, foodsystem equity there's so many
different paths that can takeyou there.
Today, I'm joined by Ann Marinaof our Youth Grow program to
talk about one of thefoundational cornerstones of the
work that we do here at GrowingGardens and of radical
gardening in general, and thatis knowledge sharing.
(01:07):
So we're really excited to jumpin and just share a little bit
about our Youth Grow program.
I'm so happy to have you herewith us today, amarina.
Let's go ahead and hop right in.
Why don't we get started withjust telling us a bit about
yourself your name, yourpronouns and your role here at
Growing Gardens.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
A bit about yourself, your name, your pronouns and
your role here at GrowingGardens.
Hi Bea, thanks for having me.
My name is Amarina Guerrero Iuse she and they pronouns and
I'm the program director for ouryouth grow program at Growing
Gardens.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I'm so excited we're able to meet today because I
know Amarina's job is a big oldjob.
Being a program director formultiple school gardens is a
feat, and we're going to dig ina little bit more to what that
looks like overall and just allthe stuff that goes into it.
It's a really big job, so it'sreally great to be able to
connect with you today for thispodcast.
(01:56):
I'd like to start, though, withhearing just about your
background.
You know everyone at GrowingGardens.
I always like to say this inour episodes that everyone who's
here and a part of the team weall come from such diverse
places in life.
You know we all just have anamazing tapestry and wealth of
(02:16):
information and knowledge andjust colorful backgrounds, so I
always love to hear that to getstarted.
So can you just tell us alittle bit about yourself, your
personal and professionalexperiences, and what was the
path that really led you togrowing gardens?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Sure, so I was born in the Willamette Valley in
Oregon and grew up largelyoutside with my family.
We didn't have a lot of moneylike financial resource, but we
did have a lot of richexperiences right, and so part
of that was growing up outside,whether that be in the backyard
(02:51):
or somewhere in the house or outand about, and so, you know,
some of my kind of formativememories from when I was a child
were using my hands outside,whether that be with a garden or
working with bricks like I wasjust allowed that kind of space
outside, so working with bricksLike I was just allowed that
kind of space outside, soworking with bricks to make a
little patio when I was eight,you know, and and or being
outside in a big rain and beingallowed to do that allowed to
(03:15):
explore that, encouraged toexplore that, and that was all I
feel like.
That was stuff that definitelyhelped me just learn to connect
with the outdoors, the worldaround me, and feel comfortable
in those spaces.
When I was in college I took acourse, however, called School
Gardens, and it was a landscapearchitecture course through the
(03:37):
University of Oregon, and duringthat course and I had never
heard of a school garden wedidn't have them growing up.
We did have a small garden inour own home.
But when I took that coursethere was a requirement to do
about six hours of volunteertime within different
afterschool programs down inEugene.
And when I went to my firstvolunteer day I was tasked with
(03:59):
moving a gigantic pile of barkchips with students that was
about a football field away tothe garden using wheelbarrows
and these were third graders andI didn't know the kids at all,
and I was.
I hadn't.
I had worked a little bit withkids, but not in a formal
setting, and I just had no ideahow this was going to work.
And I said, okay, well, whatare we going to do?
(04:20):
What do kids like?
They like competition, theylike to like have fun together.
Make it a team effort.
And so we made a team effortand we did these wheelbarrow
relays.
And I just remember like seeingthem be so proud and so excited
and working together and problemsolving and figuring out how do
I get this heavy wheelbarrowdown the path to the garden, and
(04:43):
they had a blast and I justremember sitting there thinking
why is this not in every school?
You know, this was just asimple activity, of course, but
I saw it get to the physical,like the kids were using their
bodies, they were gettingstronger, they were working
together, they were problemsolving.
They had to have fine motorskills to balance that
wheelbarrow and they had to worktogether to do it because it
(05:03):
was so big skills to balancethat wheelbarrow and they had to
work together to do it becauseit was so big, why not in every
school?
And so that was kind of at thatpoint I know now I've been
doing this work about 23 yearsand I know now there are a lot
of barriers to school gardens.
But at that moment it was likethis is what I want to do, I
want to get this because Ididn't have this.
And I'll add to like those werejust a few of the students in
(05:24):
the club, other students weresitting on stumps and like
looking at little bugs or eatingtheir snack, and it provided
that opportunity.
What I saw was not just theactive kids.
I also saw it providedopportunity for kids who were
quieter, who wanted to dosomething on their own or in
small groups, and it just seemedlike such a rich environment.
(05:45):
And so I've dedicated my career, and it's my career has taken
different pathways, but I'vededicated my career to really
coming back to that.
How can we make these spacesavailable for kids so that they
can learn in the ways that areauthentic to themselves?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's amazing.
Thank you so much.
I love that.
There are sometimes just thosemoments where you know one
experience and it all clicks andyou're like, wow, this is the
direction I need to be going.
That's so inspiring to hear.
So you mentioned you've beendoing this work for around 23
years you said Mm-hmm and thathas had a lot of different
(06:20):
incarnations or has looked a lotof different ways, but you've
been in school gardens for quitea while, so you've seen it all
kind of, at this point, like you've definitely experienced a
great deal when it comes toschool gardens and school garden
just outdoor school programs.
So now that you're at GrowingGardens, how did you know that
(06:42):
we needed to do somethingdifferent or that you know we
can have a unique approach or adifferent entryway to this
particular type of education?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That's such a big question, I think you know.
I think what I really saw Icame to Growing Gardens a little
over six years ago and knewthat this is the work I wanted
to do.
We were relocating to Portlandand so was already in school
garden based work in Eugene andwhen I moved up here.
So this is really the work Iwant to be doing and what I saw
(07:15):
was actually, when I was inEugene, the opportunity I had
was kind of narrow.
It was very focused on takingthe kids out outside for
specific lessons and we weren'treally pushing into the
cafeteria or doing a lot of foodeducation work or able to dive
into deep relationships.
And while the program wasamazing but what I saw when I
(07:37):
came up here was an opportunity,the way that Youth Grow program
wanted to operate, intended tooperate, was and is now doing
was really making our work asculturally relevant to our
students as possible throughthese highly cultural practices
of being.
How do we be outside?
How do we relate to theoutdoors?
(07:58):
You know from our differentcultural lenses, how do we
relate to food?
And we didn't shy away fromreally jumping into like we're
going to work with food withkids.
We need to do it in a waythat's responsive, and so that
was an opportunity I saw.
Another opportunity I really sawand I have seen through these
six years is and partiallythrough COVID as well, and some
(08:22):
of the isolation and now comingback together is that as a
society and this very muchimpacts our youth and adults
that our connections to oneanother and to food and to the
world around us, thoseconnections are fragile at this
point and we have an opportunitythrough Youth Grow to do more.
(08:43):
It's more than just like let'sget kids out in gardens or let's
get kids learning with foods.
We have an opportunity to reallyengage kids in food and
gardening to allow them todevelop really strong
interconnectedness andconnections with one another,
with their own identity, withfood and with the world around
them through gardens, and sothat's just such a powerful
(09:05):
opportunity that really moves usand motivates us as a program
to say what can we do with this?
Like, how can we offer that tomore people in the world, to
more students?
So another opportunity thatI've really seen throughout the
six years I've been here, that'sdeveloped and in part because
of the experience we had throughCOVID with social isolation is
that I've been here that'sdeveloped, and in part because
of the experience we had throughCOVID with social isolation is
(09:27):
that I've seen an opportunityaround really addressing the
reality and this is a realityfor kids very much so, and also
for adults that our connectionsto one another, to our food and
to the world around us, they'rereally fragile right now, and we
have an opportunity through ourprogram to really help kids
(09:49):
strengthen those connections tothemselves, to other people, to
the world around them and tofood through the work we do, and
so that's really the bigopportunity that I see with our
program.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
That's so beautiful that it goes beyond just like,
hey, let's put a garden in theschool and let the kids play
with it.
You know, there's so many waysthat gardening can be
educational, healing and reallyconnect us to ourselves, to our
culture.
So there's so many more lessonsthat we can gain from that
experience.
(10:22):
So it sounds like that wassomething that was just so
obvious through your experienceof like, yeah, gardening is
great, get little hands out inthe garden, that's wonderful,
but you know, it could be somuch more dynamic than this, and
I'm really glad you're able toexplore that here with us at
Growing Gardens.
What are some of the steps thatyou took?
Because that sounds like a bigyou know you're like, hey, this
(10:44):
could be so much more dynamic.
Look at all these ways we canreally really utilize this.
Now what?
So?
What were some of the stepsthat you took, or we took as an
organization with the Youth Growprogram, to approach the school
garden space from a newperspective?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.
So about when I came into YouthGrow about six years ago, the
(11:24):
program was well established andhad some school day programming
, after school programming andalso some teacher trainings to
support other educators withinthe community to be able to do
school garden and engage kidswith school garden, school
garden work.
And so what's changed in thattime and the way we've
approached it really is that werealized we needed a richer
curriculum.
We needed more of a base tosupport our students
consistently with learningstandards, with making sure we
were doing great hands-onlearning, and also a curriculum
that was flexible enough to meetthe students' needs, because
(11:45):
the schools that we work in arehighly culturally diverse, so
from one community to a nextmight be working with a totally
different group of kids, and sothe curriculum needed to reflect
our students, reflect theirinterests and needs, and without
the curriculum being flexiblewe couldn't do that.
(12:06):
And so we embarked about, Iwant to say, four years ago on
developing four or five yearsago, developing a 72 lesson
curriculum for K through five,fifth grade that really hit
those different points thelearning standards, the hands-on
learning, also life skills Ididn't mention earlier, so
gardening skills, cooking skills, and then that there was human
(12:27):
centered and centered on thestudents we were working with,
and so that was a lot of what wedid and invested a lot of time
in was creating that.
And then COVID came right andwe had to totally shift and we
did a lot of online learning andwhen we came back from COVID,
what we saw was that ourstudents had a really strong
(12:47):
need for social, emotional,skill building support, and so
we've been able to one of thethings that I think is unique to
Youth Grow and maybe not maybeother organizations also do this
, but I'm very proud of whatwe've done prioritized asking
(13:08):
that question of what do ourstudents need, what does the
community need, and try to usethe venue or avenue of the
school garden and of theopportunities we have to work
with students to address thoseneeds.
And so that's what we did.
After COVID, a lot of oureducators really got
trauma-informed care trainingand really looked at how can I
use this space to support mystudents and meet them where
(13:29):
they're at, and so some of thelessons shifted to where there
was more integration andembedding of lessons around
self-worth or around how we talkto one another or empathy with
a worm right or a bee and likeor like, like.
How do I learn to provide spaceto others?
And so, using bees as anexample of that, how do I create
(13:51):
a safe space?
How do I sense what I need inmy body?
And so we're using the gardensnot just to hit those learning
standards, but also to do all ofthat, and we're trying to help
others to do that as well.
So we do that through workingwith 10 different elementary
schools and also early childhood, ed and high school teenage
level programming.
But we're also looking at howcan we support others, because
(14:13):
we only have so much capacity togo in depth at school sites and
partner sites.
We want other students to beable to also have similar
experiences in outdoor learningspaces and learning with food.
So that's a whole nother sideof what we're doing, as well as
supporting other school gardenadvocates to do this work.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It sounds like the overall theme that I hear,
really listening to this andtaking this in, is that you have
created a new approach whereinyou can be agile, you can be
flexible, you can kind of taketheir lead and see, okay, this,
this deserves more attention, ormore strategy.
You know and add curriculum asyou go and really make it
(14:56):
accessible to the learner, bethem a little you know, one of
the kids in the playground, orbe it a teacher who is in this
totally different space in theirlife.
So, with that in mind, like thisagility or this, like ability
to shift when things come upCOVID was a really great example
of this.
What are some other kind ofunexpected challenges that have
(15:18):
come up for you guys in theYouth Grow program, maybe that
you've faced in the past andhave overcome, or challenges
that you currently face that arejust inherent to the role?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
It was a real challenge.
Obviously, covid was a realchallenge in that we worked in
person in schools with studentsevery single day of the school
year and in the summer, and sohow do you do your work when you
can't be in those spacestogether?
And I was incredibly impressedand humbled and so proud of the
education team.
At that point I had stepped outof being an educator myself and
(15:51):
was supporting the team andjust so proud of the team for
their ability to be agile andresponsive and flexible and not
be afraid of that.
Really lean into.
How can we be there for ourstudents?
That is always the question Ithink that we come back to and
we have faced several challengessince then as well, one of them
(16:11):
being coming back into theschools and seeing the hurt and
seeing the need for skillbuilding, as I mentioned before.
And so you know, I think oneway we've addressed the
challenge, and something that Ithink is really special about
being a nonprofit that supportsmultiple school garden sites, is
that team members that work atindividual schools are not
(16:35):
isolated in this work, and sothey can come back to and we did
, and we do come back to oneanother and say this is what
we're experiencing Like.
Is anybody else having a reallyhard time with just seeing so
much more signs of students notknowing how to navigate the
social space?
And what did you do?
And so we have that team, andthat makes all the difference.
(16:58):
Having others to talk with andlearn with about the challenges
we face allows us to beresponsive.
So many folks in the schoolgarden world and field are
working a little bit more inisolation.
While they might be at a school, they're the only person maybe
doing school garden-based work,so they may not be able to talk
(17:20):
about how it specificallyimpacts.
Everybody at the school mightbe experiencing a similar
challenge, and so they candefinitely talk with their
colleagues, but how does thatwork in the school garden
setting?
How do we address that and whatare our opportunities, again,
to utilize this space to reallyhave a positive impact and
address this need?
And so that was a hugechallenge was the social
emotional I'll come back to thatSupporting the social emotional
(17:43):
space for students.
So I think we did a good job ofchanging how we use the garden
space to do, and there's beenother challenges as well along
the way, but I think the biggestpractice we've utilized is
coming back to one another andour connection as a team with
our teammates.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I love that and that it was really just to each other
and really come back togethercollectively in community.
That connection again toourselves, to each other.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
And can I add to there?
I would love to add to thestudents, to each other and
really thinking about who is thecommunity right?
And so we also make an effortto listen to teachers.
But one of the community groupsthat our organization had had a
really hard time connectingwith was families and parents,
(18:47):
and there's always been a lightconnection because we show up
Even though we're not a part ofthe school staff.
We would show up to familynights and host work parties in
the garden at times, but wewould find that that was kind of
a light connection, and so wereally wanted to hear from
families, because those are thekids we're working with, are
(19:08):
their kids right?
And so we want to make surethat what we're doing meets the
expectations and best wishes offamily members and caregivers
for what their students areexperiencing in schools.
And so about two years back,another thing we did was reach
out really, really intentionallyand worked hard to center
(19:30):
voices within the community thatare the voices that are least
heard, voices within thecommunity that are the voices
that are least heard.
So in school communities there'sso many folks that really are
not heard through PTA or maybehave a hard time getting to the
schools because of their modesof transportation, or someone in
the family is alter abled anddoesn't have the ability to
(19:53):
navigate that school space orget there easily, or they're
working right.
Families are working, so it'shard, it's really really hard
for a lot of families to be ableto show up in those spaces and
then to feel heard orappreciated when families do
take that effort to do so.
And so we reached out tofamilies and did a family survey
in several languages and alsodid roundtables with families to
(20:15):
really listening sessions.
So the reason I thought of thatis because, bea, you mentioned
that theme of listening, and sothat's something we tried to do
two years back and are planningto do again, have more, because
we only were able to reach fourschools through that process,
and so we want to do morelistening sessions with another
three schools this year and alsoadd a youth grow advisory group
(20:37):
paid family members.
So we'll be paying familymembers, teachers and some
students to help us to informour program and provide in-depth
input into how we run ourprogram and what we teach.
And so that's another area Ifeel like we are working to
address some of the challengeswe see, one being that sometimes
this education might not berelevant, and so how do we
(20:59):
really make it relevant andmeaningful?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
thinking that you know, oh, I have this great idea
for a project.
You know we're going to do thisand it's going to solve all
these problems.
Like you really have to takethe time to ask the community
directly what their needs areand understand where they're
coming from and hear how theywant to communicate and, you
know, learn their language, likeliterally and figuratively, and
figure out how to get thatacross in the best possible way.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, and be willing to make the adjustments, like be
willing to listen and act onwhat people are sharing, because
they're taking that time andeffort and providing that trust
in you that you will make achange, if need be, to what
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, and just taking the time to sit and listen to
like that, that in and of itselfis such a powerful trust
building activity that reallylays the foundation.
So, knowing this, knowing thatyou came from a background in
school gardens and shifted intogrowing gardens, where we
already had a curriculum inplace and then we just kind of
(22:16):
opened things up really tocircumstance, we listened to the
students and the parents andthe teachers and we responded to
that through our curriculum andthe services that we offered.
You have this uniqueperspective.
How do we know that what we'redoing in Growing Gardens is
going in the right direction?
How do we know that we we'redoing in growing gardens is
going in the right direction?
How do we know that we're onthe right track?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, it's a great question and really important.
We think about who are weaccountable to right?
How do we know that there's animpact that's positive through
the work we're doing?
And what I would say is that Ikind of want to use an example.
So earlier I shared about howstudents were really saying or
not saying, they were showingexcuse me, they were really
(22:59):
showing hurt.
They were showing the need torelearn and learn and develop
skills around how to be with oneanother and interact with one
another.
And so a couple of our educators, one in particular, carla
Manuel, who was a food courtservice member at the time with
us and now is on staff said mykids need help with learning
(23:21):
care, to learn how to handlesafely chicks.
But also, just, you know, whatit did so authentically was give
students and teachers reallythis opportunity to just have
(23:45):
like unfettered love and gentleenergy and in holding these
small little creatures.
And it was so beautiful when Isee the pictures, when I see the
videos, hear the stories andsee the smiles on the kids and,
like I said, teachers' faces,the teachers really needed it.
And so, in seeing that, thatwas a good sign, right, that was
(24:08):
a sign that, yeah, we're on theright track.
This is not in our curriculumto bring in baby chicks.
But how do we do that, do thatsafely and do it well, to
address the needs of the folksthat we are connected with in
community through the schools.
And then when we one of thethings we do, it's not.
You know, it's great to hearthe stories it's invaluable and
(24:29):
to see the pictures, but we alsowant to ask directly, and so we
do ask students, teachers andfamilies about their, their, the
learning experiences that arehappening and what's working and
what's not.
And when we ask the students,by far and away, the chicks came
, the chicks got to visit twodifferent schools with our
educators and by far and away,even though it was only at two
(24:51):
of our 10 schools, when we askedwhat was your favorite part,
they all said the chicks likejust having that experience of
holding that little being, thatlittle warm, being in their
hands.
And so that's an example whereyou know, how do we know?
We notice through theexperience.
We share that with one anotheron our team.
Then we also ask, we ask thecommunity and we listen.
(25:12):
And so that was one and it was alot of work but it was well
worth it, and I'll say too theother way we really know is that
when we ask and we do oursurveys and our discussions with
family members, with teachersand with students, the vast
majority of folks say we wantmore, we want this opportunity
more.
What we do right now is come inanywhere from every other week
(25:33):
to work with a class to once amonth working with a class, and
we have parents asking why can'tyou go in weekly or even
multiple times a week?
And we don't really have thecapacity to do that right now,
and that's why, you know, one ofthe things we're working toward
right now is how can we createmore of these outdoor learning
experiences and garden-basedlearning experiences on a
(25:56):
regular basis through workingwith teachers to really support
them, to have the resource andtraining they need to feel
comfortable to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's such a good call-in, actually, and leads me
right into our next question.
Now, for those folks out therewho are listening, who may want
to do this kind of work, who arecurrently teachers and they
want to bring a garden to theirschool, or they're currently
gardeners and they know thatthey want to be working with
children in this capacity,what's some advice that you can
(26:28):
give?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
yeah, um, what I'll say is that there are a lot of
resources out there, first ofall, to support those of us who
are kind of at beginning stages,saying I know that this is
valuable, I want to share thiswith my students or with my kids
or my community.
And one of those resources thatI want to call in, because we
share more through it, is ourschool garden coordinator
(26:52):
certificate training, which isan online program that has six
learning modules to kind ofcover.
It really is just the tip ofthe iceberg, but it's all the
basics around.
How do you start a program, aschool garden based program, how
do you create the space, how doyou engage the community, how
do you teach in that space?
And then how do you sustain itover time, both through funding
(27:15):
and, again, keeping it relevant,you know, utilizing the space
in a way that is meaningful forthe specific audience, the group
you're working with.
So I want to call that inbecause that is a great kind of
survey course or overview coursethat can really point folks in
the right direction and becauseit's online, people can attend
from anywhere, not just in thecountry but in the world, and we
(27:38):
run that course spring, falland then sometimes in the winter
, but spring and fall are ourmain runs and it's through OSU
Pace.
So if people Google OSU Paceschool garden, it will pop up
and OSU is Oregon StateUniversity, so we run it in
collaboration with Oregon StateUniversity.
(28:00):
But what else I'd say is, yeah,like put your like, start asking
.
Right, just start like talkingto the other folks around you,
because garden spaces,especially school gardens or
community gardens, they are not.
Gardens are not just plants,right, gardens are not just a
set of rules on how you growsomething.
They're really this beautifuldance between people, plants and
(28:24):
the environment, the placewe're in.
So I like to imagine people, orsay people, plants and place,
and so getting to know yourplace, getting to know your
people, and then the plants comelast.
So you know, just start talkingto the folks around and see who
else is interested and thenlooking for those resources like
our school garden coordinatorcertificate training or other
(28:45):
organizations such as KidsGardening, and their site is
just kidsgardeningorg.
They have amazing resources andthere's a whole other suite of
resources that we could maybeshare in the podcast notes.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
For anyone listening here, youcan absolutely find links to our
certificate, to any otherresources that we've mentioned
today.
This is also where I like toadd that you can reach out to us
directly.
You can go to our website,growing-gardensorg, hit the
contact us tab and just tell uswhat you have going on.
(29:19):
It will usually go to me andthen I will direct it to anyone
on the team who is available andhas the bandwidth to work with
you or provide resources ofwhere you can go in your own
neighborhood.
I would also say, you know, tunein.
We're going to have a lot moreinterviews, have a lot more
interviews and a lot moreinteraction with Youth Grow
right here on the Radical Rootpodcast.
(29:39):
So if you just kind of want tohear from other educators that
are out there currently doingthe work, the projects they're
doing, the problems they'recoming up against, the creative
solutions that they are findingalong the way, definitely tune
in to the Radical Root as well.
Thank you so much.
There's just a few morequestions, actually two more
questions that I always love toask as we wrap up the podcast
(30:01):
here, and the first one isAmarina can you please share
your most useful or fungardening factoid?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
A factoid.
Well, this is just a fact.
It's not specific.
I'm not going to tell you likethis plant family or that.
What I'm going to say is myfact is that just through
spending time in the garden, youcan learn from your plants.
You can learn about plants, Ishould say you can learn from
the world around you, and I findsome of those like most
(30:32):
meaningful things that Iacknowledge that I hold from my
garden space is from being outthere and just having that
energy to be receptive and kindof, for example, I might see how
a plant unfurls over time or Imight learn what pollinators
love a certain plant and theirflowers.
(30:53):
But I don't, I'm not going to belearning that through a book,
right.
I'm going to be learning thatfrom really being in that space
and watching.
And there's just so manysecrets and there's that wisdom
out there.
There's the cultural wisdomabout plants, about just the
natural world and how we relateto it.
There's scientific wisdom andknowledge as well and those are
so valuable.
(31:13):
But in conjunction with those,I just really urge all the
listeners and I know most of youprobably already do this or
know but to take that space,that quiet space, to just be in
community with the plants andanimals in your outdoors,
outdoor spaces that you are apart of, and that you'll learn a
lot from that outdoor spacesthat you are a part of and that
(31:35):
you'll learn a lot from that soimportant Just plant sitting.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
I love that.
I live out in the OlympicPeninsula, out here, and you
know I've learned so much fromthe forest just being alone in
the trees Like there's.
There's nothing like it,there's no teacher like it.
Thank you so much for forcalling that in.
Is there anything else, beforewe hop off, that you would?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
like to add.
Yeah, I'd just like to sharethat as, bea, as you were
sharing about differentresources that we'll have
available and that we have tooffer.
One thing I had forgotten tomention is that Growing Gardens
is the Portland Metro Area'sregional hub lead for education,
for farm to school education.
There's a statewide networkcalled Oregon Farm to School and
(32:18):
School Garden Network, and thatnetwork supports regional hub
leads in different areasthroughout the state of Oregon,
and so my part of my roleactually is to be a support
person for the folks in thePortland area.
So if you're listening, you'rein the Portland area and you
don't know where to start, Iactually have some funding in
time set aside in my role tosupport you, and so we can do 30
(32:40):
to 60 minute consults on thephone.
We can come out and do a sitevisit.
If you do have a garden siteyou want some advice with a
school garden site and I canalso connect you with other
resources throughout thePortland area, including plant
starts, seeds, educationalmaterials and so on.
So do contact us.
We're happy to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Thank you so much for mentioning that and again, pop
over, check out our show notes.
All of these links will be inhere.
You can check out ourcertificate training kids
gardening, the school to farmnetwork any of the things that
we've mentioned.
You can even go to our website,check out Youth Grow and see
(33:22):
pictures of Chickie Week andthose adorable little chickies
with their adorable littleteachers and students Really
really fun content over there.
If you don't follow us onsocial media, we're always
posting cute school gardenpictures on our Instagram and
Facebook as well.
Visit us at growing-gardensorg,Find us on social media at
Growing Gardens, PDX, and wereally do hope to hear from you.
(33:42):
Amarina, it was so niceconnecting.
Thank you so much for beinghere and chatting with me today.
It was a pleasure to be here.
Thanks for having me,Absolutely All right.
We'll see you in the nextRadical Root podcast.
Thank you for tuning in to theRadical Root podcast hosted by
(34:05):
the 501c3 nonprofit GrowingGardens.
To learn more about our work orto donate to keep our programs
and services thriving.
Please visit us atgrowing-gardensorg.
While you're there, don'tforget to download your free
(34:28):
copy of the Radical GardeningResource Guide, your
step-by-step action path to agreener future for us all.
Welcome to the Radical Root podcast hosted by
the 501c3 nonprofit GrowingGardens, your go-to resource for
all things radical gardeningand food system advocacy.
Welcome to the Radical Root.
My name is Bea, I'm thedevelopment manager here at
(00:24):
Growing Gardens and I'll be yourhost for today's episode.
This month on the Radical Root,our topic is creative
approaches to radical gardening,and the idea is that you don't
even have to grow a garden tomake an impact.
We've lined up some amazinginterviews with our team just to
share some ideas.
We've lined up some amazinginterviews with our team just to
share some ideas and highlightthe many different approaches
(00:46):
that you can take if you want toget involved in radical
gardening.
Food system sovereignty, foodsystem equity there's so many
different paths that can takeyou there.
Today, I'm joined by Ann Marinaof our Youth Grow program to
talk about one of thefoundational cornerstones of the
work that we do here at GrowingGardens and of radical
gardening in general, and thatis knowledge sharing.
(01:07):
So we're really excited to jumpin and just share a little bit
about our Youth Grow program.
I'm so happy to have you herewith us today, amarina.
Let's go ahead and hop right in.
Why don't we get started withjust telling us a bit about
yourself your name, yourpronouns and your role here at
Growing Gardens.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
A bit about yourself, your name, your pronouns and
your role here at GrowingGardens.
Hi Bea, thanks for having me.
My name is Amarina Guerrero Iuse she and they pronouns and
I'm the program director for ouryouth grow program at Growing
Gardens.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I'm so excited we're able to meet today because I
know Amarina's job is a big oldjob.
Being a program director formultiple school gardens is a
feat, and we're going to dig ina little bit more to what that
looks like overall and just allthe stuff that goes into it.
It's a really big job, so it'sreally great to be able to
connect with you today for thispodcast.
(01:56):
I'd like to start, though, withhearing just about your
background.
You know everyone at GrowingGardens.
I always like to say this inour episodes that everyone who's
here and a part of the team weall come from such diverse
places in life.
You know we all just have anamazing tapestry and wealth of
(02:16):
information and knowledge andjust colorful backgrounds, so I
always love to hear that to getstarted.
So can you just tell us alittle bit about yourself, your
personal and professionalexperiences, and what was the
path that really led you togrowing gardens?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Sure, so I was born in the Willamette Valley in
Oregon and grew up largelyoutside with my family.
We didn't have a lot of moneylike financial resource, but we
did have a lot of richexperiences right, and so part
of that was growing up outside,whether that be in the backyard
(02:51):
or somewhere in the house or outand about, and so, you know,
some of my kind of formativememories from when I was a child
were using my hands outside,whether that be with a garden or
working with bricks like I wasjust allowed that kind of space
outside, so working with bricksLike I was just allowed that
kind of space outside, soworking with bricks to make a
little patio when I was eight,you know, and and or being
outside in a big rain and beingallowed to do that allowed to
(03:15):
explore that, encouraged toexplore that, and that was all I
feel like.
That was stuff that definitelyhelped me just learn to connect
with the outdoors, the worldaround me, and feel comfortable
in those spaces.
When I was in college I took acourse, however, called School
Gardens, and it was a landscapearchitecture course through the
(03:37):
University of Oregon, and duringthat course and I had never
heard of a school garden wedidn't have them growing up.
We did have a small garden inour own home.
But when I took that coursethere was a requirement to do
about six hours of volunteertime within different
afterschool programs down inEugene.
And when I went to my firstvolunteer day I was tasked with
(03:59):
moving a gigantic pile of barkchips with students that was
about a football field away tothe garden using wheelbarrows
and these were third graders andI didn't know the kids at all,
and I was.
I hadn't.
I had worked a little bit withkids, but not in a formal
setting, and I just had no ideahow this was going to work.
And I said, okay, well, whatare we going to do?
(04:20):
What do kids like?
They like competition, theylike to like have fun together.
Make it a team effort.
And so we made a team effortand we did these wheelbarrow
relays.
And I just remember like seeingthem be so proud and so excited
and working together and problemsolving and figuring out how do
I get this heavy wheelbarrowdown the path to the garden, and
(04:43):
they had a blast and I justremember sitting there thinking
why is this not in every school?
You know, this was just asimple activity, of course, but
I saw it get to the physical,like the kids were using their
bodies, they were gettingstronger, they were working
together, they were problemsolving.
They had to have fine motorskills to balance that
wheelbarrow and they had to worktogether to do it because it
(05:03):
was so big skills to balancethat wheelbarrow and they had to
work together to do it becauseit was so big, why not in every
school?
And so that was kind of at thatpoint I know now I've been
doing this work about 23 yearsand I know now there are a lot
of barriers to school gardens.
But at that moment it was likethis is what I want to do, I
want to get this because Ididn't have this.
And I'll add to like those werejust a few of the students in
(05:24):
the club, other students weresitting on stumps and like
looking at little bugs or eatingtheir snack, and it provided
that opportunity.
What I saw was not just theactive kids.
I also saw it providedopportunity for kids who were
quieter, who wanted to dosomething on their own or in
small groups, and it just seemedlike such a rich environment.
(05:45):
And so I've dedicated my career, and it's my career has taken
different pathways, but I'vededicated my career to really
coming back to that.
How can we make these spacesavailable for kids so that they
can learn in the ways that areauthentic to themselves?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's amazing.
Thank you so much.
I love that.
There are sometimes just thosemoments where you know one
experience and it all clicks andyou're like, wow, this is the
direction I need to be going.
That's so inspiring to hear.
So you mentioned you've beendoing this work for around 23
years you said Mm-hmm and thathas had a lot of different
(06:20):
incarnations or has looked a lotof different ways, but you've
been in school gardens for quitea while, so you've seen it all
kind of, at this point, like you've definitely experienced a
great deal when it comes toschool gardens and school garden
just outdoor school programs.
So now that you're at GrowingGardens, how did you know that
(06:42):
we needed to do somethingdifferent or that you know we
can have a unique approach or adifferent entryway to this
particular type of education?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That's such a big question, I think you know.
I think what I really saw Icame to Growing Gardens a little
over six years ago and knewthat this is the work I wanted
to do.
We were relocating to Portlandand so was already in school
garden based work in Eugene andwhen I moved up here.
So this is really the work Iwant to be doing and what I saw
(07:15):
was actually, when I was inEugene, the opportunity I had
was kind of narrow.
It was very focused on takingthe kids out outside for
specific lessons and we weren'treally pushing into the
cafeteria or doing a lot of foodeducation work or able to dive
into deep relationships.
And while the program wasamazing but what I saw when I
(07:37):
came up here was an opportunity,the way that Youth Grow program
wanted to operate, intended tooperate, was and is now doing
was really making our work asculturally relevant to our
students as possible throughthese highly cultural practices
of being.
How do we be outside?
How do we relate to theoutdoors?
(07:58):
You know from our differentcultural lenses, how do we
relate to food?
And we didn't shy away fromreally jumping into like we're
going to work with food withkids.
We need to do it in a waythat's responsive, and so that
was an opportunity I saw.
Another opportunity I really sawand I have seen through these
six years is and partiallythrough COVID as well, and some
(08:22):
of the isolation and now comingback together is that as a
society and this very muchimpacts our youth and adults
that our connections to oneanother and to food and to the
world around us, thoseconnections are fragile at this
point and we have an opportunitythrough Youth Grow to do more.
(08:43):
It's more than just like let'sget kids out in gardens or let's
get kids learning with foods.
We have an opportunity to reallyengage kids in food and
gardening to allow them todevelop really strong
interconnectedness andconnections with one another,
with their own identity, withfood and with the world around
them through gardens, and sothat's just such a powerful
(09:05):
opportunity that really moves usand motivates us as a program
to say what can we do with this?
Like, how can we offer that tomore people in the world, to
more students?
So another opportunity thatI've really seen throughout the
six years I've been here, that'sdeveloped and in part because
of the experience we had throughCOVID with social isolation is
that I've been here that'sdeveloped, and in part because
of the experience we had throughCOVID with social isolation is
(09:27):
that I've seen an opportunityaround really addressing the
reality and this is a realityfor kids very much so, and also
for adults that our connectionsto one another, to our food and
to the world around us, they'rereally fragile right now, and we
have an opportunity through ourprogram to really help kids
(09:49):
strengthen those connections tothemselves, to other people, to
the world around them and tofood through the work we do, and
so that's really the bigopportunity that I see with our
program.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
That's so beautiful that it goes beyond just like,
hey, let's put a garden in theschool and let the kids play
with it.
You know, there's so many waysthat gardening can be
educational, healing and reallyconnect us to ourselves, to our
culture.
So there's so many more lessonsthat we can gain from that
experience.
(10:22):
So it sounds like that wassomething that was just so
obvious through your experienceof like, yeah, gardening is
great, get little hands out inthe garden, that's wonderful,
but you know, it could be somuch more dynamic than this, and
I'm really glad you're able toexplore that here with us at
Growing Gardens.
What are some of the steps thatyou took?
Because that sounds like a bigyou know you're like, hey, this
(10:44):
could be so much more dynamic.
Look at all these ways we canreally really utilize this.
Now what?
So?
What were some of the stepsthat you took, or we took as an
organization with the Youth Growprogram, to approach the school
garden space from a newperspective?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.
So about when I came into YouthGrow about six years ago, the
(11:24):
program was well established andhad some school day programming
, after school programming andalso some teacher trainings to
support other educators withinthe community to be able to do
school garden and engage kidswith school garden, school
garden work.
And so what's changed in thattime and the way we've
approached it really is that werealized we needed a richer
curriculum.
We needed more of a base tosupport our students
consistently with learningstandards, with making sure we
were doing great hands-onlearning, and also a curriculum
that was flexible enough to meetthe students' needs, because
(11:45):
the schools that we work in arehighly culturally diverse, so
from one community to a nextmight be working with a totally
different group of kids, and sothe curriculum needed to reflect
our students, reflect theirinterests and needs, and without
the curriculum being flexiblewe couldn't do that.
(12:06):
And so we embarked about, Iwant to say, four years ago on
developing four or five yearsago, developing a 72 lesson
curriculum for K through five,fifth grade that really hit
those different points thelearning standards, the hands-on
learning, also life skills Ididn't mention earlier, so
gardening skills, cooking skills, and then that there was human
(12:27):
centered and centered on thestudents we were working with,
and so that was a lot of what wedid and invested a lot of time
in was creating that.
And then COVID came right andwe had to totally shift and we
did a lot of online learning andwhen we came back from COVID,
what we saw was that ourstudents had a really strong
(12:47):
need for social, emotional,skill building support, and so
we've been able to one of thethings that I think is unique to
Youth Grow and maybe not maybeother organizations also do this
, but I'm very proud of whatwe've done prioritized asking
(13:08):
that question of what do ourstudents need, what does the
community need, and try to usethe venue or avenue of the
school garden and of theopportunities we have to work
with students to address thoseneeds.
And so that's what we did.
After COVID, a lot of oureducators really got
trauma-informed care trainingand really looked at how can I
use this space to support mystudents and meet them where
(13:29):
they're at, and so some of thelessons shifted to where there
was more integration andembedding of lessons around
self-worth or around how we talkto one another or empathy with
a worm right or a bee and likeor like, like.
How do I learn to provide spaceto others?
And so, using bees as anexample of that, how do I create
(13:51):
a safe space?
How do I sense what I need inmy body?
And so we're using the gardensnot just to hit those learning
standards, but also to do all ofthat, and we're trying to help
others to do that as well.
So we do that through workingwith 10 different elementary
schools and also early childhood, ed and high school teenage
level programming.
But we're also looking at howcan we support others, because
(14:13):
we only have so much capacity togo in depth at school sites and
partner sites.
We want other students to beable to also have similar
experiences in outdoor learningspaces and learning with food.
So that's a whole nother sideof what we're doing, as well as
supporting other school gardenadvocates to do this work.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It sounds like the overall theme that I hear,
really listening to this andtaking this in, is that you have
created a new approach whereinyou can be agile, you can be
flexible, you can kind of taketheir lead and see, okay, this,
this deserves more attention, ormore strategy.
You know and add curriculum asyou go and really make it
(14:56):
accessible to the learner, bethem a little you know, one of
the kids in the playground, orbe it a teacher who is in this
totally different space in theirlife.
So, with that in mind, like thisagility or this, like ability
to shift when things come upCOVID was a really great example
of this.
What are some other kind ofunexpected challenges that have
(15:18):
come up for you guys in theYouth Grow program, maybe that
you've faced in the past andhave overcome, or challenges
that you currently face that arejust inherent to the role?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
It was a real challenge.
Obviously, covid was a realchallenge in that we worked in
person in schools with studentsevery single day of the school
year and in the summer, and sohow do you do your work when you
can't be in those spacestogether?
And I was incredibly impressedand humbled and so proud of the
education team.
At that point I had stepped outof being an educator myself and
(15:51):
was supporting the team andjust so proud of the team for
their ability to be agile andresponsive and flexible and not
be afraid of that.
Really lean into.
How can we be there for ourstudents?
That is always the question Ithink that we come back to and
we have faced several challengessince then as well, one of them
(16:11):
being coming back into theschools and seeing the hurt and
seeing the need for skillbuilding, as I mentioned before.
And so you know, I think oneway we've addressed the
challenge, and something that Ithink is really special about
being a nonprofit that supportsmultiple school garden sites, is
that team members that work atindividual schools are not
(16:35):
isolated in this work, and sothey can come back to and we did
, and we do come back to oneanother and say this is what
we're experiencing Like.
Is anybody else having a reallyhard time with just seeing so
much more signs of students notknowing how to navigate the
social space?
And what did you do?
And so we have that team, andthat makes all the difference.
(16:58):
Having others to talk with andlearn with about the challenges
we face allows us to beresponsive.
So many folks in the schoolgarden world and field are
working a little bit more inisolation.
While they might be at a school, they're the only person maybe
doing school garden-based work,so they may not be able to talk
(17:20):
about how it specificallyimpacts.
Everybody at the school mightbe experiencing a similar
challenge, and so they candefinitely talk with their
colleagues, but how does thatwork in the school garden
setting?
How do we address that and whatare our opportunities, again,
to utilize this space to reallyhave a positive impact and
address this need?
And so that was a hugechallenge was the social
emotional I'll come back to thatSupporting the social emotional
(17:43):
space for students.
So I think we did a good job ofchanging how we use the garden
space to do, and there's beenother challenges as well along
the way, but I think the biggestpractice we've utilized is
coming back to one another andour connection as a team with
our teammates.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I love that and that it was really just to each other
and really come back togethercollectively in community.
That connection again toourselves, to each other.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
And can I add to there?
I would love to add to thestudents, to each other and
really thinking about who is thecommunity right?
And so we also make an effortto listen to teachers.
But one of the community groupsthat our organization had had a
really hard time connectingwith was families and parents,
(18:47):
and there's always been a lightconnection because we show up
Even though we're not a part ofthe school staff.
We would show up to familynights and host work parties in
the garden at times, but wewould find that that was kind of
a light connection, and so wereally wanted to hear from
families, because those are thekids we're working with, are
(19:08):
their kids right?
And so we want to make surethat what we're doing meets the
expectations and best wishes offamily members and caregivers
for what their students areexperiencing in schools.
And so about two years back,another thing we did was reach
out really, really intentionallyand worked hard to center
(19:30):
voices within the community thatare the voices that are least
heard, voices within thecommunity that are the voices
that are least heard.
So in school communities there'sso many folks that really are
not heard through PTA or maybehave a hard time getting to the
schools because of their modesof transportation, or someone in
the family is alter abled anddoesn't have the ability to
(19:53):
navigate that school space orget there easily, or they're
working right.
Families are working, so it'shard, it's really really hard
for a lot of families to be ableto show up in those spaces and
then to feel heard orappreciated when families do
take that effort to do so.
And so we reached out tofamilies and did a family survey
in several languages and alsodid roundtables with families to
(20:15):
really listening sessions.
So the reason I thought of thatis because, bea, you mentioned
that theme of listening, and sothat's something we tried to do
two years back and are planningto do again, have more, because
we only were able to reach fourschools through that process,
and so we want to do morelistening sessions with another
three schools this year and alsoadd a youth grow advisory group
(20:37):
paid family members.
So we'll be paying familymembers, teachers and some
students to help us to informour program and provide in-depth
input into how we run ourprogram and what we teach.
And so that's another area Ifeel like we are working to
address some of the challengeswe see, one being that sometimes
this education might not berelevant, and so how do we
(20:59):
really make it relevant andmeaningful?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
thinking that you know, oh, I have this great idea
for a project.
You know we're going to do thisand it's going to solve all
these problems.
Like you really have to takethe time to ask the community
directly what their needs areand understand where they're
coming from and hear how theywant to communicate and, you
know, learn their language, likeliterally and figuratively, and
figure out how to get thatacross in the best possible way.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, and be willing to make the adjustments, like be
willing to listen and act onwhat people are sharing, because
they're taking that time andeffort and providing that trust
in you that you will make achange, if need be, to what
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, and just taking the time to sit and listen to
like that, that in and of itselfis such a powerful trust
building activity that reallylays the foundation.
So, knowing this, knowing thatyou came from a background in
school gardens and shifted intogrowing gardens, where we
already had a curriculum inplace and then we just kind of
(22:16):
opened things up really tocircumstance, we listened to the
students and the parents andthe teachers and we responded to
that through our curriculum andthe services that we offered.
You have this uniqueperspective.
How do we know that what we'redoing in Growing Gardens is
going in the right direction?
How do we know that we we'redoing in growing gardens is
going in the right direction?
How do we know that we're onthe right track?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, it's a great question and really important.
We think about who are weaccountable to right?
How do we know that there's animpact that's positive through
the work we're doing?
And what I would say is that Ikind of want to use an example.
So earlier I shared about howstudents were really saying or
not saying, they were showingexcuse me, they were really
(22:59):
showing hurt.
They were showing the need torelearn and learn and develop
skills around how to be with oneanother and interact with one
another.
And so a couple of our educators, one in particular, carla
Manuel, who was a food courtservice member at the time with
us and now is on staff said mykids need help with learning
(23:21):
care, to learn how to handlesafely chicks.
But also, just, you know, whatit did so authentically was give
students and teachers reallythis opportunity to just have
(23:45):
like unfettered love and gentleenergy and in holding these
small little creatures.
And it was so beautiful when Isee the pictures, when I see the
videos, hear the stories andsee the smiles on the kids and,
like I said, teachers' faces,the teachers really needed it.
And so, in seeing that, thatwas a good sign, right, that was
(24:08):
a sign that, yeah, we're on theright track.
This is not in our curriculumto bring in baby chicks.
But how do we do that, do thatsafely and do it well, to
address the needs of the folksthat we are connected with in
community through the schools.
And then when we one of thethings we do, it's not.
You know, it's great to hearthe stories it's invaluable and
(24:29):
to see the pictures, but we alsowant to ask directly, and so we
do ask students, teachers andfamilies about their, their, the
learning experiences that arehappening and what's working and
what's not.
And when we ask the students,by far and away, the chicks came
, the chicks got to visit twodifferent schools with our
educators and by far and away,even though it was only at two
(24:51):
of our 10 schools, when we askedwhat was your favorite part,
they all said the chicks likejust having that experience of
holding that little being, thatlittle warm, being in their
hands.
And so that's an example whereyou know, how do we know?
We notice through theexperience.
We share that with one anotheron our team.
Then we also ask, we ask thecommunity and we listen.
(25:12):
And so that was one and it was alot of work but it was well
worth it, and I'll say too theother way we really know is that
when we ask and we do oursurveys and our discussions with
family members, with teachersand with students, the vast
majority of folks say we wantmore, we want this opportunity
more.
What we do right now is come inanywhere from every other week
(25:33):
to work with a class to once amonth working with a class, and
we have parents asking why can'tyou go in weekly or even
multiple times a week?
And we don't really have thecapacity to do that right now,
and that's why, you know, one ofthe things we're working toward
right now is how can we createmore of these outdoor learning
experiences and garden-basedlearning experiences on a
(25:56):
regular basis through workingwith teachers to really support
them, to have the resource andtraining they need to feel
comfortable to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's such a good call-in, actually, and leads me
right into our next question.
Now, for those folks out therewho are listening, who may want
to do this kind of work, who arecurrently teachers and they
want to bring a garden to theirschool, or they're currently
gardeners and they know thatthey want to be working with
children in this capacity,what's some advice that you can
(26:28):
give?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
yeah, um, what I'll say is that there are a lot of
resources out there, first ofall, to support those of us who
are kind of at beginning stages,saying I know that this is
valuable, I want to share thiswith my students or with my kids
or my community.
And one of those resources thatI want to call in, because we
share more through it, is ourschool garden coordinator
(26:52):
certificate training, which isan online program that has six
learning modules to kind ofcover.
It really is just the tip ofthe iceberg, but it's all the
basics around.
How do you start a program, aschool garden based program, how
do you create the space, how doyou engage the community, how
do you teach in that space?
And then how do you sustain itover time, both through funding
(27:15):
and, again, keeping it relevant,you know, utilizing the space
in a way that is meaningful forthe specific audience, the group
you're working with.
So I want to call that inbecause that is a great kind of
survey course or overview coursethat can really point folks in
the right direction and becauseit's online, people can attend
from anywhere, not just in thecountry but in the world, and we
(27:38):
run that course spring, falland then sometimes in the winter
, but spring and fall are ourmain runs and it's through OSU
Pace.
So if people Google OSU Paceschool garden, it will pop up
and OSU is Oregon StateUniversity, so we run it in
collaboration with Oregon StateUniversity.
(28:00):
But what else I'd say is, yeah,like put your like, start asking
.
Right, just start like talkingto the other folks around you,
because garden spaces,especially school gardens or
community gardens, they are not.
Gardens are not just plants,right, gardens are not just a
set of rules on how you growsomething.
They're really this beautifuldance between people, plants and
(28:24):
the environment, the placewe're in.
So I like to imagine people, orsay people, plants and place,
and so getting to know yourplace, getting to know your
people, and then the plants comelast.
So you know, just start talkingto the folks around and see who
else is interested and thenlooking for those resources like
our school garden coordinatorcertificate training or other
(28:45):
organizations such as KidsGardening, and their site is
just kidsgardeningorg.
They have amazing resources andthere's a whole other suite of
resources that we could maybeshare in the podcast notes.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
For anyone listening here, youcan absolutely find links to our
certificate, to any otherresources that we've mentioned
today.
This is also where I like toadd that you can reach out to us
directly.
You can go to our website,growing-gardensorg, hit the
contact us tab and just tell uswhat you have going on.
(29:19):
It will usually go to me andthen I will direct it to anyone
on the team who is available andhas the bandwidth to work with
you or provide resources ofwhere you can go in your own
neighborhood.
I would also say, you know, tunein.
We're going to have a lot moreinterviews, have a lot more
interviews and a lot moreinteraction with Youth Grow
right here on the Radical Rootpodcast.
(29:39):
So if you just kind of want tohear from other educators that
are out there currently doingthe work, the projects they're
doing, the problems they'recoming up against, the creative
solutions that they are findingalong the way, definitely tune
in to the Radical Root as well.
Thank you so much.
There's just a few morequestions, actually two more
questions that I always love toask as we wrap up the podcast
(30:01):
here, and the first one isAmarina can you please share
your most useful or fungardening factoid?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
A factoid.
Well, this is just a fact.
It's not specific.
I'm not going to tell you likethis plant family or that.
What I'm going to say is myfact is that just through
spending time in the garden, youcan learn from your plants.
You can learn about plants, Ishould say you can learn from
the world around you, and I findsome of those like most
(30:32):
meaningful things that Iacknowledge that I hold from my
garden space is from being outthere and just having that
energy to be receptive and kindof, for example, I might see how
a plant unfurls over time or Imight learn what pollinators
love a certain plant and theirflowers.
(30:53):
But I don't, I'm not going to belearning that through a book,
right.
I'm going to be learning thatfrom really being in that space
and watching.
And there's just so manysecrets and there's that wisdom
out there.
There's the cultural wisdomabout plants, about just the
natural world and how we relateto it.
There's scientific wisdom andknowledge as well and those are
so valuable.
(31:13):
But in conjunction with those,I just really urge all the
listeners and I know most of youprobably already do this or
know but to take that space,that quiet space, to just be in
community with the plants andanimals in your outdoors,
outdoor spaces that you are apart of, and that you'll learn a
lot from that outdoor spacesthat you are a part of and that
(31:35):
you'll learn a lot from that soimportant Just plant sitting.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
I love that.
I live out in the OlympicPeninsula, out here, and you
know I've learned so much fromthe forest just being alone in
the trees Like there's.
There's nothing like it,there's no teacher like it.
Thank you so much for forcalling that in.
Is there anything else, beforewe hop off, that you would?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
like to add.
Yeah, I'd just like to sharethat as, bea, as you were
sharing about differentresources that we'll have
available and that we have tooffer.
One thing I had forgotten tomention is that Growing Gardens
is the Portland Metro Area'sregional hub lead for education,
for farm to school education.
There's a statewide networkcalled Oregon Farm to School and
(32:18):
School Garden Network, and thatnetwork supports regional hub
leads in different areasthroughout the state of Oregon,
and so my part of my roleactually is to be a support
person for the folks in thePortland area.
So if you're listening, you'rein the Portland area and you
don't know where to start, Iactually have some funding in
time set aside in my role tosupport you, and so we can do 30
(32:40):
to 60 minute consults on thephone.
We can come out and do a sitevisit.
If you do have a garden siteyou want some advice with a
school garden site and I canalso connect you with other
resources throughout thePortland area, including plant
starts, seeds, educationalmaterials and so on.
So do contact us.
We're happy to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Thank you so much for mentioning that and again, pop
over, check out our show notes.
All of these links will be inhere.
You can check out ourcertificate training kids
gardening, the school to farmnetwork any of the things that
we've mentioned.
You can even go to our website,check out Youth Grow and see
(33:22):
pictures of Chickie Week andthose adorable little chickies
with their adorable littleteachers and students Really
really fun content over there.
If you don't follow us onsocial media, we're always
posting cute school gardenpictures on our Instagram and
Facebook as well.
Visit us at growing-gardensorg,Find us on social media at
Growing Gardens, PDX, and wereally do hope to hear from you.
(33:42):
Amarina, it was so niceconnecting.
Thank you so much for beinghere and chatting with me today.
It was a pleasure to be here.
Thanks for having me,Absolutely All right.
We'll see you in the nextRadical Root podcast.
Thank you for tuning in to theRadical Root podcast hosted by
(34:05):
the 501c3 nonprofit GrowingGardens.
To learn more about our work orto donate to keep our programs
and services thriving.
Please visit us atgrowing-gardensorg.
While you're there, don'tforget to download your free
(34:28):
copy of the Radical GardeningResource Guide, your
step-by-step action path to agreener future for us all.
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