Beans on the Bean Plant!!!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to share that my bean plant now has beans on it! :)



Waiting for her beans to mature so she can eat them as a snack,
Jeanette

An Edible Wall

After doing some research on gardens, I found this on the iPhone Good Food app: A edible wall - by Urban Farming. There is one in Los Angeles in Skid Row. But here is a video on one in New York: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7915897

For your enjoyment: How to create an edible wall:
http://www.good.is/post/how-to-grow-an-edible-vertical-garden-in-5-steps/

I am not suggesting we do this. But I thought it was good to know what other people are doing with a similar subject matter, especially since the kids seem so excited about it while working with their community.

Flowers on the Bean Plant!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to give you a quick update on my plants :) They have little purple flowers now!

A little purple flower being born...


The same little flower first opening its petals to a whole new world!


I hope everyone and their plants are doing well :)
Jeanette

Jeanette and the Beanstalk (plus Basil)

Hi everyone!

Sorry I couldn't attend the meeting last time! I had a fever and a midterm to study for on that weekend... But I'm glad that the meeting was productive and that Sprout now has a direction to follow! Below are some pictures of the beans and basil I have been growing.

7 days after I planted the beans (top) and basil (bottom):



12 days after I planted the beans (top) and basil (bottom):



19 days after I planted the beans (top) and basil (bottom):



So yup! My plants have been doing quite well in their soup cup/lunch box (both of which I stole from Ralph's) and UCLA soil! I would highly recommend growing beans for quick results. For the last couple of weeks, they would grow as much as 7 cm perday!! I planted exactly 8 seeds and all 8 of them sprouted. (I know that I was supposed to thread them so they would have enough space to grow, but it would have broken my heart to do that to my babies...) As for the basil, they are very fun to pet (whereas the bean plants are fun to high-five) and they are starting to smell very nice!

As a side note, I think a possible fundraising idea would be a bake sale :) Nonetheless, I'll be posting pictures again soon! And I hope everyone is doing well!

Drinking out of her Silk PureAlmond Vanilla flavored milk carton,
Jeanette :)

Meeting Notes 5.1.10

Thank you to everyone for coming on Saturday - we had a very relaxed meeting in the yard with snacks and dogs. We also had some really great seed sprouts on Saturday - but Lilit took the prize! Photos to come in the near future.



Summary:
So this week we talked about a more specific direction to take - we have an amazing opportunity to partner. A Otis A/L/I student has been working on transforming old trampolines into shade structures. The top material already has a UV coating and when you add another fabric layer the tops can be used as a garden area. The project has been working with the Boys and girls Club in East LA (and they already have a learning garden) and would love to have this become a built project.

Christine (the Main Designer) is soldifiying the design and making sure it's legal to build. We were able to talk and Project H would help develop the gardens and learning activities that can work with it. This is perfect because we now have a specific project to work within, a educational organization to partner with, and an agreement to raise funds and build!

I hope this makes sense any specific questions or need clarification just blog it.


Notes:
- Project focus is on eating healthy, growing, communication, and games
- The potential for themes(ex. different plants from different regions)
- Thinking of how a raised garden would work (potential landscapes - meaning multiple trampolines at different heights)
- Lower smaller trampolines for working gardens
- Planting native plants in the center and edible plants around the parameter
- Best way for kids to retain information?
- How are kids at B + G Club grouped? By age or activities?
- Group games and activities
- multiple goal vs. one big one
- Group winning (ex. winners get a bean added to the jar - when the jar is full the whole
class gets a treat)
- Game activities that talk about where food comes from, how ingredients become
recognizable foods
- Individual activities vs. group games
- Activites (ex. the plant dance)
- Incorporating permanant tools or "props" into the trampoline area that are involved in the
games
- Self initiated games vs. teacher organized games
- Garden Bingo

To Do:
- Keep taking care of your seedlings and document and post photos!
- Research on food/gardening related projects, games, activiteies etc.
- Creative fund raising opportunites so we can build this project.


Next Steps:
- Meet with Christine - Structure Designer
*We have a tentative meeting planned for the week of the 24th - stayed tuned for more details!
- Visit to Boys and Girls Club - East LA
- Lilit has a trampoline we can do come testing on

These are some of my little eggies. You can only grow
tiny sprouts in them and then transfer them to bigger pots.

Manga farming link. Courtesy of Mr. Will Tang.
http://www.koshikawachi.com/gallery/01mn

Hello everyone. Topsy Turvy tomato planters.
http://www.topsygardening.com/index.php
Interesting....

Home Farming by Crackers

(not those kind of crackers.)

Triscuit has launched a website full of resources for home-farming, and they're putting seed packets inside their boxes.

Go seeds go!

How's everyone else doing?

Notes from April 10th Meeting

Courtesy of Kim's superior note-taking / idea-converging :

Name :

New project name - Sprout!

Notes from the Meeting :

• Some concern in moving into partnerships before we experiment and really figure out what works.
• Main focus on kids and gardening with potential educational components developed from that.
• Modular gardening system (opportunity for games - ex. how do the plants that need the most sun get it?)
• Idea of treating the plants like a classroom pet
• Growing ingredients to foods commonly eaten (salsa, omelets, french fries etc.)
• Possibility of using egg shells as a growing container.
• Is our system indoor or outdoor?
• Still considering after school programs or community programs where we can experiment

Experimentation / To-Do List :

• See what grows (tomatoes, herbs, potatoes, basil, lettuce, strawberries etc.) the 99 cent store has seeds and you can try soil and/or paper towels. * Growing Contest * Person who wins gets a treat!
• Research any relevant DIY gardening projects and vertical gardens or containers
• Thoughts/collection of found or easily available materials to test the next time we meet (bottles, gutter, shoe organizer etc.)

So with that in mind, we will be meeting with materials and plants in hand on:

Saturday May 1st
Silverlake (at Shannon's house)
12 - 4 p.m.
All snacks, drinks, and friends welcome!

It begins.

First, an idea.

Second, logically... a blog.

I'll get everyone set up to post, and we can voraciously take advantage of comments as well.

Next step, grow things.