PSHS Organic Garden

The Club takes the Team Heifer Challenge!

2011-11-20T22:28:00.001-08:00

Team Heifer Challenge!

We are off and running on our goal to raise $5,000 for Heifer International before January 6, 2012!
Our always supportive principal, Mr. Ricky Wright, has accepted our challenge to wear a COW SUIT to school, for an entire day, if we can collect this amount of money by our deadline date of January 6.
As an organization that focuses on providing healthy food to our families and community, it seemed a natural fit to work with an organization that provides struggling communities around the world with livestock that can be used to generate income in a manner that is both sustainable and dignified. Heifer International provides livestock pairs to impoverished families, under the condition that the offspring of this livestock must be offered to other families in the community, as a means of creating an ever-expanding network of hope and peace to the entire community.

We hope you will join us in this venerable cause, and help us put Mr. Wright in a cow suit! If you would like to donate (this sort of donation makes an excellent gift at this time of year... gift cards are available!), please click on the link below to be taken to the PSHS Garden Club Team Heifer donation page. Donations made from this page by clicking on the button that says Give to This Team will be credited toward our team's goal of $5,000.

For more information on Heifer International, please see their website at www.heifer.org . From there you can also hit the GIVE button, and then do a search for:
PSHS Garden Club which will also get you to the Give to This Team button.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you MUST hit the Give to This Team button or you will be directly taken to Heifer's banks, and we won't get the credit! You would of course, still be doing a great service to humanity, but we want to proudly show your connection to our school garden! And, if I am not mistaken, Heifer International will, in turn, make a sizable donation to our organization. So much giving and loving, it's hard to keep track of it all!

There is also a link to all of this info on our Facebook page, PSHSGardeningClub and you are very much encouraged to spread the link and the donation trail as far and wide as our ever-expanding community can carry it!

Thanks, as always, for your support. And please come and visit the garden soon!

-Smith

Give to This Team

New Photo Album Posted

2011-04-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is a link to the OGC Picasa photo album. It is a very small selection of thousands of photos that have been taken over the course of the last year. Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day!!!

2011-04-22T06:09:00.001-07:00

This is a test post using Blogsy, a mobile device app. If this works, I'll be able to publish with a bit more frequency... I hope.

Winter's final grasp.

2011-04-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

We had a very successful working afternoon in the garden yesterday, Friday, April 8, 2011. We had a difficult time processing the fact that it was early April in Palm Springs, as it felt much more like mid-January! Large black clouds loomed over the mountains, indicating that it must have been pouring down rain in L.A., strong gusts of very cold air, plus a sprinkle or two kept us hoping for one more good rain here in the desert before the heat of summer truly sets in.

We worked for about 3 hours, mostly harvesting seeds, which was a new experience for all of us. The students were much more excited by this than I would have imagined. While we have had some wonderful successes this year in vegetable production, it has, by all accounts, been hit or miss with each planting. The students seemed to marvel at the fact that even those plants that had not quite lived up to the luscious photo on the seed packet, the plant had done everything in its power to ensure the survival of the next generation. Even the spindliest little sprout sent out a flower, which in turn produced a few seeds.

We have also learned about which plants are easy to grow, which are very sensitive to consistent moisture levels in the soil (strawberries), how much space each kind of plant needs in order to grow to full size, and how many seeds one or two plants can produce. The arugula was the best example of this, having grown to enormous size with thousands of seed pods. One plant left to seed would have been plenty!

Edible Garden Tour a Success!

2011-02-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

Despite the rain, the first annual Edible Garden Tour of Palm Springs was a big success. Our garden was the first stop on the tour, and was well-received by all visitors!

The Dervaes Family at PSHS

2010-12-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, December 12, 2010, the Dervaes family (of Path to Freedom fame) were guest speakers at Palm Springs High School. The event was planned by Desert EcoEvents, and proved to be a great day of school garden awareness, spotlighting the gardens at three schools in our district: Agua Caliente Elementary School, Raymond Cree Middle School, and Palm Springs High School. The school auditorium was the scene of brief presentations by each of the participating schools, followed by the Dervaes documentary and Q & A session.

The party then moved to our garden site for the remainder of the afternoon. We had been in the ‘company’s coming’ mode for a couple of weeks, and it was nice to relax and just enjoy the event. The Dervaes had tables set up with a few of the natural product they sell, and we had Smoothies from a bicycle-powered blender. The garden was well-received by all the guests, and the students were thrilled to be docents of their labor of love.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Thanks Southwest Boulder!

2010-12-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

A HUGE THANKS to Southwest Boulder & Stone for their generous donation of gravel to spread around the planter boxes! This will make working around the boxes easier, safer, and cleaner...not to mention that it looks fantastic! We are very grateful!

The Dervaes Family to visit our garden!

2010-12-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

We, the Palm Springs High School Organic Club, are extremely proud to be hosting the Dervaes Family for a very special event at the school this coming Sunday, December 12. The Dervaes are nationally renowned urban homesteaders from nearby Pasadena. Beginning many years ago with a simple backyard garden, they proceeded to transform every square inch of their yard into a self-sustaining miniature farm! They have lived almost completely off the grid for years now, and have become a symbol of all that is possible at the homeowner level, within the current movement toward green living. They will be here on Sunday to show their short documentary, and to talk about the highs and the lows of their journey. Personally, it sounds fantastic, although there would be some radical adjustments that I would imagine would take some time to get used to. I am very interested in their honest assessment of how they view their life -- in terms of overall happiness, or general well-being, compared to the way that most of us live. I also wonder if in their day-to-day life they ever feel ever frustrated, or lacking in some area that they could easily remedy by simply jumping in the car and going to Ralphs? And if they do experience these frustrations, how do they deal with them? Perhaps they give in to human desires, and just don't make a big deal about it. Or do they stick to a rigid set of principals, even at the expense of their own happiness? Are their actions driven by a passion for the simple life, or are they now driven by a pure dedication to a cause. I'm just curious, that's all!

More on the event as the week unfolds. Thanks for reading!

Check out the links below for more info:

Desert EcoEvents

The facebook page for the event:
School Garden Event at PSHS - facebook page

On YouTube:
The New York Times Magazine - Life (Mostly) Off the Grid

Lots of Progress, not too many blog entries!

2010-12-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

There are many unwritten posts since the last official blog update from the end of the school year in June. After each meeting with students, sponsors and supporters of every kind; after each tiring but invigorating work day; after each hurdle that was overcome; and after each moment of joy as I observed my students come to that beautiful realization that they had created something wonderful, -- I formulated a blog entry. I then waited for the time to actually sit and write then post the update... And therein lay my downfall! ‘Down-time’ is something that is virtually non-existent in my life these days! And that is a great thing! The interest and support that we have received is phenomenal.

I am going to attempt to recap a few of the highlights here. A few events will undoubtedly be out of order, but hopefully the photos will tell a far better story than I ever could. I will continue to update this blog as often as possible. Sometimes it will just be a quick blurb, sometimes just a captioned photo. I’ll do what I can. To you, the follower of this blog, I say, ‘Thanks for coming along for the ride!’

After all our trials and tribulations to get the project up and running, we were finally able to plant our first seeds in October of this year. It was indeed a great day -- the culmination of so much planning, preparation and just plain hard work! Now we just had to sit back and wait for life to take hold. And through the miracle of lots of sunshine and warm weather, we did not have to wait for long. Within a little more than a week, little shoots of various sorts started popping up through the soil. October was actually still quite hot, and we worried that it might be too much for the little sprouts. But life prevailed, and they seemed to be completely undaunted by the blistering sun. My guess is that even though the temperatures remained well above 100 degrees, the fact that the sun was no longer directly overhead for most of the day, made it just tolerable for the young plants.

Moving Ahead...

2010-09-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

As the new school year gets underway, we are regrouping, assessing all that still remains to be done before planting, and taking the necessary steps to make that day a reality sooner, rather than later.
First, an update on summer activities - or lack thereof.
The professional gardener that we hired to install the initial irrigation to the garden site, was able to get the majority of the system in place, but unfortunately was unable to complete the job. As there was no timer installed, the water main needed to be opened nearly every day in order to keep the tender saplings well-watered throughout the hot desert summer. For the most part, I was able to stop by each day and water. But when I left to go out of town for three weeks, there was a miscommunication among the students who were meant to keep the watering schedule going, and we almost lost the trees.

Israel Ibarra, a talented (and very level-headed) groundskeeper at the school, was able to save the day once again! Throughout the summer he was kind enough to keep a watchful eye over our five trees. Luckily, Israel noticed that the leaves were getting a bit droopy and gave them the good soaking that they needed to revive. Hopefully all five will survive. The two cherry trees and one of the pecans are doing great. Two of the pecans are still 'resting' from their ordeal. We'll see what happens.

And now Israel has come through once again. He was able to get the new timer installed and ready to go in a single day! (In addition to, not as a part of, his regular duties at the school) The rest of the work to be done is mostly measuring, cutting, and gluing PVC pipe in order to have the bubbler lines running through each planter box. Although Israel has offered to help, I believe that this is something that the students and I can handle, and will be a good learning experience for us. We will, after all, need to maintain the system throughout the growing season, and make adjustments as needed, so we are going to have to learn sooner or later; and there's no time like the present! Also, the more we learn to do now, the less dependent we will be on outside contractors such as the one that dropped the ball on the installation of the original system.

More to come!

Making Progress

2010-09-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Summer Work Day

2010-06-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

June 11, 2010

After the stress of exams and report cards was done, and the joy of the last day of school had arrived, while most students were planning where they were going to go to escape the heat of the Palm Springs desert, our die-hard OGC members were hard at work on their first Saturday of their summer break! At 8:00 in the morning! It was actually a lot of fun. (How could it be anything else?) And we got quite a bit accomplished.

Raul Salgado, of Salgado Irrigation, had by then, installed most of the irrigation system, he had instructed us to finish by filling in the organic mulch into each box so that he would be able to complete the installation of the drip system to the boxes.

We finished by about 11:30 a.m., and after clean up and putting tools away for what everyone thought would be a week or two, we headed across the street to the Farmers Market at the Camelot Theater. The farmers were all so exceedingly nice to the students and all very genuinely interested in our project. After free samples from many of the booths, students were picked up and everyone headed off into summer, not knowing that we would not see each other again until September!

2010-06-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today was our last official Organic Garden Club meeting for the 2009/2010 school year. I am always amazed at the level of commitment that these students continue to demonstrate as they show up each and every week to listen to me ramble on about what we are 'GOING' to do, while only a couple of occasions have they actually had the chance to even get their hands dirty!

As the main components of the irrigation system have now been installed, we need to get the mound of planting mix into the raised beds. Raul Salgado will then return to finish installing the drip system that we plan to use in each box. Our original plan was for an afternoon of work today, but as the temperature is now headed toward the century mark and beyond, I suggested that we postpone until Saturday morning. The students agreed, and we will meet on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. to hopefully finish in just a couple of hours. Surprisingly, there was not a single gripe or groan about the early hour, with a couple of students suggesting that we should meet even earlier in order to beat the heat.

I am excited for our first Saturday work session, and I will update with photos after the event. I will also post a few earlier photos to illustrate the stages of progress we have made thus far.

Thanks for reading! And please spread the word about this project to anyone you think might be interested.

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF AN IDEA

2010-05-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

Stephen Smith here - a language teacher at Palm Springs High School since 2006.

Over the years I have observed the

deterioration of school system food programs and the lack of food and nutritional knowledge among students and their families.

Understanding the importance of good eating habits as they relate to

academic performance, and having a personal interest in organic and locally grown foods, I started thinking about ways to get students more involved in healthy eating.

Last year I woke up one morning and thought "wouldn't it be cool for PSHS to have its own organic garden?" I talked to some people and they talked to some people and before I knew it it was in the works. Its been in the works since December, 2009. We've been jumping through beaurocratic hoops, meeting with community leaders and getting more people on the bandwagon.

I met with the directors of the Palm Springs Farmer's Market who were all very enthusiastic about making this project happen and helped bring together the rain makers who could provide the necessary funding.

Through the generous donation from Les Dames d'Escoffier, a women's culinary group, we finally had the "seed" money to get us off and running. (Yaaay!)

Slow Food of the Desert heard about the project and offered additional funding, as well as their expertise in coordinating projects like this from the soil up. Soon after, we found out about a grant offered by the City of Palm Springs, that was targeted for school gardens. We submitted the grant proposal by the deadline (it was due by 5:00 p.m. on April 26; I hand delivered it to City Hall at 4:58 p.m. of that day!) By the second week in May we were awarded another $2,000. (Double yaaay!)

We now have a written plan of action for the project and a working budget of $10,000. With the generous donations of our gracious donors, and the grant money from the City, we're currently up to $6,000 in funding. The balance will be made up of donations from other organizations and individuals who want to help in our challenge to help our children eat and live healthier lives.

This blog will provide updated information, updates on the project, photos of our progress and comments from our students. So check back frequently and feel free to contact me or the school if you'd like to make a donation of money, materials, or your valuable time...anything will be greatly appreciated!

Stephen Smith