WELCOME TO OUR GARDEN
In the Spring of 2008, the Oscar Mayer Magnet School Garden Project began. Fourteen teachers signed on to introduce to their students to the joys of working in a garden. Parents and volunteers prepared a 100' x 16' plot just south of the school's entrance on Clifton Avenue. The kids started seeds, created worm bins, tilled their plots and finally planted some plants! Even our Montessori classes have their very own garden plot on the south side of the building and they planted a salsa garden.
Our main garden plot contains 16 individual 6' x 7' plots: each classroom has chosen garden co-captains who are in charge of their class plot. One 5th grade class had so many students who wanted to be garden captains that they had to write a letter, give a speech and be selected by their fellow classmates in order to earn their title (see....gardening can be cool too). We have also planted a perennial garden in the south east corner of the main plot.
Three eighth grade classes partnered with DePaul students studying biodiversity and together they designed and planted two containers flanking our front entrance featuring plants native to Illinois.
Our goal is to get our kids interested in where food comes from, learn about our hard-working pollinators, create awareness about our environment and to help other Chicago Public Schools create their own schoolyard gardens. We also want to shout from the rooftops that playing in the dirt is fun!
Thank you to all of the families who have contributed their time (and sweat) to the Garden Project and to Principal Katie Konieczny for her full support. A big thank you to the wonderful teachers at Oscar Mayer Magnet School for your enthusiasm and patience .
2010
What another great gardening year for Mayer Magnet! 98% of all classrooms started seeds, designed and transplanted their very own plots, tended to their plants and harvested some food. We couldn't be more proud of our student gardeners and the excitement and enthusiasm they show for learning where out food comes from.
This year, Oscar Mayer Magnet School’s Garden Project won 3rd Place (Region 2 / Schools) in Mayor Daley’s 54th Annual Landscape Awards sponsored by the Chicago Department of Environment. Award winners in thirteen categories were honored during an awards ceremony November 6, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Drive.
“I am proud to honor such a diverse group of people representing all corners of the city; our businesses, our schools, our community groups, are all connected by the common thread of greening and beautifying Chicago. The positive impact that these gardens and landscapes have on our environment and quality of life can not be understated,” said Mayor Richard M. Daley.
3rd grader Grace Hughes was invited to the ceremony to accept the award on behalf of our school.
Annie's Homegrown (makers of those yummy cheese bunny crackers and organic mac and cheese) awarded Mayer with a Annie's Grant For Gardens. We will receive a cash prize of $250 to help sustain The Garden Project with materials and plants. Annie's receives thousands of requests for grant money so it is an honor to be recognized by them. Next time you are shopping for snacks, try some bunny crackers http://www.annies.com.
This summer, local tavern and music venue The Hideout held a weekly Wednesday night bingo game with proceeds to benefit NeighborSpace, a local non-profit that helps community groups protect and secure their community garden or park from potential development and works in concert with many private and public partners to preserve and expand community managed open space in Chicago (http://www.neighbor-space.org/main.htm). After donating a whopping $3,445 to NeighborSpace, The Hideout decided to spread the bingo wealth and the final four weeks were divided among local farmers and/or groups. The Oscar Mayer Garden Project was the lucky recipient of the September 30th bingo bonanza and we received $231 dollars! To read more about Veggie Bingo and the upcoming Soup and Bread events at the Hideout, please visit: http://www.soupnbread.wordpress.com. A huge thank you to Martha Bayne, Hideout bartender and fantastic blogger for inventing Veggie Bingo and for thinking of Mayer's Garden Project.
The Oscar Mayer Magnet School Garden Project was selected from more than 200 youth and community gardening programs nationwide to receive a tiller/cultivator from Mantis (http://www.mantis.com), valued at $349.
Each year Mantis offers an award program for charitable and educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life in their host communities. The National Gardening Association (www.garden.org) administers the program for Mantis, and selects 25 outstanding applicants to receive Mantis tiller/cultivators.
"Mantis is proud to support this terrific project," says Awards Program Coordinator, Linda Beattie. "The Oscar Mayer Garden Project was chosen because of its demonstrated commitment to using resources, creativity, and community connections to produce bountiful gardens with far-reaching benefits."
Thank you to Kathleen Judge for her $150 donation.
Thanks to the Pollinator Partnership (www.pollinator.org) and FlipVideo (www.theflip.com) and Aveda (http://www.aveda.com) for donating the cool video camera.
2008
Oscar Mayer Magnet School’s Garden Project was awarded an $800 grant from Greencorp. Oscar Mayer Magnet parents Anastasia Hinchsliff and Janan Asfour attended 12 hours of workshops at the Center for Green Technology to learn about garden design and in return received $800 worth of goods and services from the Greencorp experts.
A HUGE thank you to THE HIDEOUT (www.hideoutchicgo.com) for your very generous donation of $2,500 for the Garden Project!! Your donation will allow us to buy the plants needed to fill our gardens for two years! Thank you so much for your support!
Thank you to THE FRIENDS OF MAYER (www.friendsofmayer.org) for your $2000 donation to The Garden Project. Without your encouragement and support, we could not have started or sustained our wonderful gardening program.
Oscar Mayer Magnet School’s Garden Project has been awarded 1st place in the School Category for Region 3 of the 2008 Mayor Daley’s Landscape Awards Program. The 52nd Annual Mayor’s Landscape Awards Program is the City’s way of acknowledging the individuals, businesses, community groups, schools and other public institutions that contribute their time and energy to making our city the greenest in the nation.
Representatives of Oscar Mayer Magnet School attended an awards ceremony with Mayor Daley on November 1st at Garfield Park Conservatory. Congratulations to all of the students, teachers and parents who contributed to making the Garden Project such a stunning success in it’s first year.
