Saturday, November 2, 2013 the BEETS (Band of Environmentally Educated and Employable Teens) hosted teens from the CA Academy of Sciences and CommunityGrows hosted the Redwood Trust Employee Foundation for a day of garden maintenance in Koshland Park.
The Redwood Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) located in Mill Valley, CA. In May 2007, the Redwood Trust Employee Foundation was created for the purpose of supporting and conducting charitable activities by facilitating employees’ involvement in community service. With the continued support and efforts of their employees, the Foundation contributed financial resources and time to CommunityGrows supporting their work with the environment. We were honored to have Kate Freedman and Jessica Sergi join us for the day.
The Cal Academy’s digital learning youth program is a group of teens working on a year long project to create interactive videos and digital maps to educate the public about the food they consume and how to make healthy choices for themselves and the planet. The teens were interested in learning how community gardens play a role in sustainable food systems.
The day started off with the BEETS setting up the garden circle and getting snacks, name-tags and sign-ins in place. When everyone arrived Damion Edgerson, one of the Fall BEETS, led an ice-breaker allowing everyone to learn each others’ names and create garden names. Then there was a brief history of the garden, an introduction to the BEETS, and a tour of the garden by many of the BEETS. Arif Husain and Tyson Appel, two community gardeners talked about their experiences gardening and answered questions from the crowd. Tyson’s family joined in on the day and enjoyed their time in the garden.
For the next two hours crews were busy trimming ivy, pulling weeds, turning soil, transplanting bushes, and sifting compost. We were even able to move a deep rooted morning glory plant to the back fence of the garden, giving it better room to grow. This project alone took the full two hours and many strong and willing teens. Walking through the garden at the end of the day everyone saw the fruits of their labors and the transformation for the beginning of the fall season.