About a month ago, my kids watched the documentary The Need to Grow. After watching the documentary Arabelle began dreaming about making a school garden. I had reached out to our school principal and asked her if Elmore had a garden. Three days ago Mrs. Norman showed us the remnants of what was once an active school garden.
After seeing the garden Arabelle and Genevieve became determined that they wanted to turn this space into a beautiful garden where students would be able to learn about gardening, the environment and the importance of nutrient dense foods. Genevieve also wanted this garden to be a place for students to come and relax when they are feeling sad or stressed.
Determined to help my girls dream come true I put out an ask of Facebook for people to donate cardboard, chicken wire and other gardening materials to the garden. The very next day we received a multitude of donations from community members.
Today, three days after seeing the garden for the first time, the girls were interviewed by our local TV station.
Click here to see the girls first TV interview.
Click here for their second TV interview a week later.
We received a few more donations of plants and cardboard today, but are in need of many more things in order to turn this garden into a learning environment for the whole school.
Below I have a link to the list of all the items we need, as well as things the girls “want”. This is their project, so I went through gardening stuff with them and let them decide what they wanted.
We will need multiples of each of the items listed.
Click Here to view their Amazon Wish List
What we need right now is: plants, cardboard, yard staples, brick/pavers, stepping stones, garden boxes, chicken fence/wire, lumber and garden trellis.
Below is a description of the types of garden beds we need. We selected a few from Amazon but are willing to take anything similar to what we have listed below.
My Girls Wish List:
Raised Beds:
Six 2×4 raised planters and six a 2×6 raised planters. These beds would be used for teaching the smaller kids, grades 4K-2, about gardening. They would be the perfect size for kids that size to work on.
We did find one local business, Chaudoir’s Custom Wood that can make them for us. Their prices are 2×4 raised = $100 each, 2×6 raised planters are $125. The owner is looking into the cost of making vertical garden beds for us.
Pyramid Vertical Garden Beds:
We were able to find these on Amazon, but would be willing to take them from anywhere. These pyramid style raised beds allow for easy watering and also allow much more produce in a small amount of space. We would like six of these as well.
5 Tier Garden Planter:
This on the expensive end, but the girl selected this type because it holds water longer which will keep the plant watered during dry spells much better than the cheaper kind. We would like 8 of these. The type we are looking for is on our Amazon Wish List.
As a final note:
THANK YOU for any and all help you are able to give. My daughters, myself, and Mrs. Norman are grateful for all the help from community members. Your assistance and donations are allowing us to create a magical place for young children to learn about gardening and the joys of nature.
Life From The Ashes 
Children who grow will help themselves financially, eat good fruits and vegetables, and save the planet. Thank you 😊
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