Organization: GIVE

Expertise: School Gardens

Summary: I have been working with middle school students doing informal gardening (flowers, bulbs, perennials...) during my recent 23 years at Dolan Middle School in Stamford. In summer, 2010, after retiring, I began a project to get vegetable gardens established in all of the schools in the city- public and private. It has been a labor of love and has been so satisfying. I decided at the outset that each school would create the kind of garden that would work for it. I was not going to be a dictator. i do not have all the answers. I do believe in allowing the process to evolve at the pace its participants choose. So we now have 20 schools involved in establishing vegetable gardens on site. Some are modest in size, some are generous. All are going to have a spring crop and a gaggle of delighted staff and students. My role is that of facilitator, advisor, listener, validator. I can also direct the schools to sources for certain kinds of materials. And we are all learning and helping each other - and having fun. I am currently enrolled in the University of Connecticut Master Gardener program thru the Bartlett Arboretum. i've decided to learn what I should have known before I ventured into this. But, the time is right for me now.