A Garden Grows at Orville Wright

A Day On and In the Garden to Celebrate Dr. King

2012-01-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

Students and families and staff of Orville Wright alongside community members came out on MLK Day to work in the garden. Together we prepared many of the beds in the student garden, mulched and ended the day with a big planting. Throughout the morning, we collected seeds from plants, painted new signs and learned a new method of planting using triangulation that maximizes how much we can grow. Jeanine Geisregan, an OW parent and master gardener, demonstrated how to compost for us. It was a joyful, energetic day. We posted our favorite quotes from Dr. King on ribbons that we hung on the fence for our community to read. Our next work day is February 4.

The Garden Keeps Growing Community

2011-12-22T09:35:00.000-08:00

The last couple of months have gone by so quickly, so we will have to backtrack and share all the great things that have gone on in the garden.

On Saturday, November 19, the Emerson Avenue Garden Club (the non profit that will be overseeing and managing the community garden) held a yard sale for the garden. It was a very successful fundraiser on many fronts. They collected items from community who emptied out their closets and garages and donated them in support of the garden. We had the Austism class from Westchester High selling their beautifully hand crafted reusable bags. There was even a delectable bake sale. Folks stopped by and bought items, learned about the garden, and reconnected with the school. So many people made this a successful fundraiser and EACGC raised over $700 over the course of the sale.

Also the Boy Scout Troop 915, just finished a beautiful seating area in the southeast corner of the garden. Joshua Ohnstad made his Eagle Scout project constructing a seating area that was made from urbanite (recycled concrete pieces) and decomposed granite. They also built a bench that they installed. A big thank you to John Tikotsky for organizing and supporting the project.

Picture of the completed space coming soon.

The Orville Wright Garden Club with the help of Joanne Poyourow planted a demonstration garden in front of the main office. It has a mixture of edible plants, herbs and flowers.

And last, but not least, our own Orville Wright parent, Jeanine Geisregen, submitted a grant with her other Sony employees for the garden and we received it! The grant form Sony's " A Greener World Green Grant Program" is for $7500 to continue to establish the student garden and build the community garden with an additional 38 plots for neighbors, OW families and community members.

The Spiral Butterfly Garden Planting

2011-11-16T21:27:00.000-08:00

The community came out on Saturday, November 12, despite the dire warnings of rain to plant the native species in the spiral butterfly garden. A special thanks to community member Karen Shaeffer for organizing the design and palnting and going all the way to the Theodore Payne Foundation to purchase the plants. A big thank you to the Orville Wright PTO for allocating $250 for the planting. After Thanksgiving holidays, Karen is coming back to work with students on seeding the area.

Willow Teaches Us All About Worms

2011-10-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Another great community collaboration, Willow McJilton, joined us on a Friday afternoon in September to show us how to build our vermicomposting bins. Students from Ms. Cohen and Mr. Fordyce's classes learned how to create a worm condo and what conditions worms like to live in. We will be feeding our lunch scraps to the worms to create nutrient rich soil and worm tea for our vegetable garden. Willow was an amazing teacher and we all learned so much. She also made us containers to hold our scraps and and a pitcher to keep our worm tea with great labels that she created. We have named all our our worms "The Chakas" and we hope to keep them happy and composting our food for our garden.

Tomatoes are the Big Crop of the Summer

2011-07-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the gardeners who planted tomatoes and basil last workday on June 11, the garden is alive with tomatoes. Thank you Christine for all the tomato and basil transplants! Summer in the garden is a little quiet, but our great community partners headed by Dorothy come and water and maintain all the fruit trees at the south end of the garden. On Fridays Ms. Cohen has a fun group of College Bound students preparing beds and planting. Every other Tuesday, Sister Rashida comes and works with a group. Our newest garden angel is Jennifer Sullivan, also our new PTO president. She brings a crew of young people each week to water the mandala garden. The tomatoes thank them:-) and they are growing beans and sunflowers.
Don't forget that you can join us Saturday, July 23 from 9-noon and help us with building and maintenance. We will be sheet mulching the mandala garden pathways to eradicate the crab grass, plus weeding and other fun crafts. Bring sunscreen and hats and join us!

A Big Sunday on a Saturday!

2011-05-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Another great student run lemonade/bake sale!

Weeding and mulching...

Setting the walking spiral...

Planting more trees...

Awesome alumni...

Look what we grew! (Who could resist?!)

The spiral awaits planting...

as the mural grows, too.

Thank you to everyone who made our Big Sunday Event a wonderful day!

Honoring Earth Day in the Garden

2011-04-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

April 9 brought the community back together once again to keep greening our space on Emerson Avenue. A multiple generational event, this Saturday we double dug 4 beds, planted 7 trees, weeded, made flags and signs and prepared the larger piece of land for the big tilling. A big thank you to Darin Early and LMU for providing us with awesome food and great labor, including his three wonderful daughters! OWMS students Naya Royas and Clarke Brown sponsored a Lemonade Stand to fund-raise for the garden. After lunch, we had our first ever tree dedication in honor of Helen Rosebaugh. Kathy (Helen's daughter) and her husband Matt were both alumni of OWMS. Helen's husband , Bill, and grand daughter shared in planting an Anna Apple tree in her honor. Dr. Pride pointed out how much this has already become a place for community. Joanne Poyourow taught us how to plant the tree. Another shout out to Princess and her grandfather. So many people have given their sweat and labor to the garden!

Sister Rashida Is In The Garden!

2011-04-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Orville Wright just got lucky! Sister Rashida, a certified Master Gardener from the UC Cooperative Extension has come to Orville Wright to work with our students. Thanks to Bryce Collin Davis from LMU for making the great connection. Bryce and Sister Rashida work with two groups of students on Tuesdays and already have them planting broccoli, strawberries, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, etc. in the garden.

The Student Garden Keeps Growing

2011-03-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday March 26, twelve new beds and three new trees were added to the student garden.

Many thanks to the Ohnstads for picking up the trees from International Nurseries and delivering them to us.

Among our great crew of volunteers were Catalina Falla, Richard Whyte, Amay Wong, Matt Munoz, Sergei Belonkonnyi, Ursula Pandey, Margey Whalen, Skylar Luna, Geri Marston, Damien Erwin, Lee Butcher, Tracy Gossett, Chris Espinosa, Meredith MacCarthy, Kristen Killey, Christine Manlapy, Gerald Fletcher, Russell Stone, Gabriella Barrientos, Adrienne Mascaro, and Tom Ford.
Plus our crew leaders: John Tikotsky, Joanne and Hannah Poyourow, Christine Tope, Bryce Collins, and Dorothy Stone.

Thank you! You doubled our capacity to grow in one day!

Also, lots of gratitude to those who donated items to the garden including the Westchester Senior Center who gave us new hand tools.

Upcoming Events in the Garden

2011-03-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Join us as we continue to grow the student mancala garden and break ground on the traditional plot style community garden that is coming to Orville Wright.

Saturday, March 26 from 9-noon
Saturday, April 9 from 9-1 Earth Day at OW
Saturday, May 14 from 9-2 Big Sunday Event

Make sure to bring gloves, sunscreen, water and a hat. For more info email pcohe1@lausd.net or go to envirochangemakers.org/OWMS garden.html

MLK Day of Service at Orville Wright

2011-01-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 17, 2011
Students, staff and community allies collected for a ground breaking event to create our new student and community garden. LAUSD and the Mayor's Office co-sponsored the event. Over 140 people came out and contributed to our day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and it felt like a powerful testimony to what community can do together. Orville Wright has so many people to thank for making the garden happen, planning the day of service, and all the sweat and toil that transformed the space on the 17th. To find out about future work days or how to get involved in the garden, go to www.envirochangemakers.org/OWMSgarden.htm.

The New Garden Initiative at OWMS

2010-12-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

We have all been looking at that sad piece of property on the corner of Emerson Ave. and 80th Place for too long. It has looked like a scrub land with a junk yard. Soon it is all going to change.
Fast forward to Fall of 2011...
         You enter the gate on Emerson and to your left, you see a thriving student garden, abundant with nutrient rich foods that will be the source of a salad bar in the student cafeteria. Classes of students happen daily, led by a sustainable agricultural teacher, where students learn how to grow for maximum productivity using organic principles....
           You turn to the right and before you is an engaging walking spiral and adjacent is an amphitheatre made out of pressed earth where students are having classes during the day and the community is having events on the weekends and evenings......
       Right beyond that are a number of garden plots that are tended by people in our community. You may sign up and have your own plot or you may choose to come visit and see what is happening....
      Walk a little further and there is space to enjoy the garden with benches under fruiting trees. Have a snack on a peach or citrus while you are here....or you can take a stroll on the path that encircles the garden. It is wide enough for a stroller or wheel chair and there are places to stop along to way to try a different fruits from another tree......

This is the Orville Wright Garden.

A space for our students to grow...

A space for our community to grow...

Please become a part of making the Orville Wright Garden grow.

Currently we are having design and planning meeting happening with representaitives from the Mayor's Office, Rosendahl's Office, OWMS faculty and principal, WPEF, the Environmental Changemakers, and other community stakeholders.

Join us on Monday, January 17 for A Day of Service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This event is in conjunction with the Mayor's Office and LAUSD.

More props for LACC...

2010-07-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 12, the second crew from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps came in and dug further into the beds. As the week progressed, the weather got hotter and the ground seemed harder (the most compacted clay you can imagine). But Jillesca. Xzavier, Vladimir, Juan, Francisco, and Norma braved the heat and tenacious clay to dig out and amend our next eight beds. Orville Wright thanks you and I know our plant roots will thank you,too. Borrowing from your words: You all leave a wonderful footprint on Los Angeles!

Conservation Corps Arrive at Orville Wright

2010-07-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to OWMS! They arrived on Tuesday, June 30 and are expanding the plots to eight more. These amazing young people are true garden warriors! Much thanks to Jillesa, Alexis, Fernando, Michael, Ernest, Agolinar, Joseph, Dave, Steve, Teague and everyone at the Conservation Corps as well as John Tikotsky (the OWMS guardian angel). Go to http://www.lacorps.org/ to see all of the great stuff that they do.

Team Works in the Garden!

2010-07-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

Team Works is our awesome after school mentoring program. One of the last activities together was a garden workday. First we went over to the Holy Nativity's Community garden at 83rd and Dumbarton, where Reverend Hood gave us a tour and and some of us tried eating nasturtium for the first time. The next week, we spent an afternoon transplanting tomatoes, sage, marigolds, etc (all from Mud Baron's generous seedling give aways). We also had a great time mosaicing a bench. Thank you Yesenia for being such a fantastic coordinator! It was great fun for all and lots of Team Work happened!

April 24 Work day in the OWMS Garden with Gardens of Gratitude

2010-04-27T20:52:00.001-07:00

It is starting to look like a garden!
Thank you all for your labor and support on Saturday, April 24.
We had a great showing from the community and many OWMS families, plus two great volunteers from Gardens of Gratitude! We now have four working plots and are ready to install the next row. The names are numerous, but a big shout out to John Tikotsky who with Joanne Poyourow put together our working plan and John spent countless hours and much labor making Saturday happen. He is a great friend to the Orville Wright Middle School Garden. Another workday is coming soon...

Gardens of Gratitude Coming to OWMS!

2010-04-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

On Saturday and Sunday, April 24th and 25th, the Westside permies are hosting their weekend of Gardens of Gratitude where volunteers will come together to meet a challenge of installing 100 gardens in West LA. On Saturday, we will host a garden workday to try to finish installing our garden. Come join us at orville Wright Middle School and then keep the challenge going and join other installations! For more information contact Paula at pcohe1@lausd.net or gardensofgratitude.org.

OUR FIRST WORK DAY

2010-03-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all joined us Saturday, March 13:
Aleda LeDuff, Jaida LeDuff, Adam Kliszewski, Julia Singleron,Adrien Soto, Rowena Robles, Mark Gauthier, Priscilla Gauthier, Julian Poyourow, Joanne Poyourow, Marian Mussman, Rebecca Mussman, Ellen Kalven and mom, Kay Yang Stayner, Zachary Stayner, Barbara Montgomery, Jeanette Perez, John Tikotsky, and Paula Cohen, plus all the people in the community who stopped by to learn about what we are doing!

We were able to dig out the first four plots and mix in compost. We are looking forward to our next work day. Stay posted for the dates.

MARCH 13 WORKDAY

2010-03-05T20:44:00.001-08:00

Come and join us for our first OWMS Community Workday! Saturday, March 13 from 9-12.We will meet at the back gate on Emerson (between 80th St. and 80th Pl) behind the last bungalow. Look for our banner. Bring tools, gardening gloves, water and sunscreen and all your fabulous gardening energy! Let's work together and get the garden up and running.

Great Garden News!

2010-02-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

The Garden just got a grant! We recieved $2000 from the California Community Fund to help with installation. Also we are scheduling a big work day on March 13 to get the garden up and running. LMU students will join us in the effort. Look for more postings on this.

Weekly Garden Meetings

2010-01-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

We will have weekly lunch meetings on Thursdays in Room 54. Our last meeting, on Thursday, January 14 was a picnic in the ag area and future site of our garden. We were joined by Ms. Cohen, Mr. Bergher and 5 students and a few lady bugs. Come join us on Thursday, January 21.

Starting a garden in 2010!

2009-12-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

The OWMS Garden Club met about three times during the Fall semester and we are ready to get going on two fronts. First we are starting a container garden with winter vegetables: greens, lettuces, cabbage, etc. and we are going to use our harvest to do outreach to other students. As soon as we have harvests, we will table in the quad and offer samples of what we are growing. We are very excited that a young gardener in our community is preparing seedlings for us during Winter Break.

Next in 2010 is the big project of turning our derelict ag area into a working and thriving garden. We've put in two grants to help jumpstart this project and we should know this month if either will be coming through. While it will be a blessing to finance the project, what the garden really needs is our sweat, labor and committment to see it though. So all garden enthusiasts at Orville Wright Middle School, get ready to join us!