Harrisburg

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Mabelvale Garden Update »Mabelvale Garden Update This past week, Karl Heinbockel and fellow Delta Garden Study interns have had the opportunity to escape the fluorescent lights of the office and work in the bright sunshine at the Mabelvale Magnet Middle School gardens and greenhouse. In spite of the oppressive heat, there is still much to do to prepare for the coming school year at Mabelvale Magnet Middle School. We are removing the residue from last year's crops (and weeds!) and replacing them with a buckwheat cover crop to revitalize the soil. The buckwheat cover crop suppresses weed growth and once tilled in will add important organic material back into the soil. This allows new plants the ample nutrients necessary to blossom with great vigor. Healthy soil has been our focus this summer. In the fall, we will concentrate our efforts at producing a variety of food crops with the help of our students at Mabelvale! In the coming weeks, we will be continuing to clean up and organize the garden and greenhouse spaces so that this school year will be a great one for Delta Garden Study's showcase garden - Mabelvale!

FrontPage Article »See the Progress on our New Gardens! Don't forget to visit our Garden Schools’ webpages for pictures and stories about the progress of our new gardens. Liana, Kevin, Ryan and Cale have been busy developing their sites, planting a late summer garden, and getting to know their communities. Many thanks to all of their community members who have donated materials, equipment and labor!

About The Delta Garden Study »About The Delta Garden Study The Delta Garden Study is a $2 million research study funded by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service designed to prevent childhood obesity and social risk behaviors, and improve academic achievement, in middle school children in the Delta and Central regions of Arkansas.

Harrisburg Featured Student: Lucas Wiggins

The Harrisburg School Garden is the best way to try new foods, learn about plants, and especially to have fun! Ms. Jill and Mr. Ryan are the best garden teachers to find stuff. They are kind, nice, and helpful! My favorite things to do in the garden are to play mingle-mingle [a physical activity game in the garden] and to play with the chickens! My hobbies are playing video games, and I have many favorite books!

Harrisburg Garden Progress

We served the kids a mixed salad of our mizuna, tatsoi, red romaine and paris white lettuces—a bowl full of color, tossed with Jill’s homemade salad dressing. We also served students braised kale, with nothing but lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Some of the students are starting to understand that when you use fresh produce that’s grown well, it comes with a lot of flavor all on its own. Our ‘Green Team’ at recess is becoming a real powerhouse in the garden—they are fast becoming a team of efficient, well-trained of harvesters and processors and make it more easier for us to feed the school every week. Also, Jill and I planned out our whole spring garden today and propagated thousands of seedlings in the greenhouse. We don’t want to reveal any secrets just yet, but I will say this about our upcoming spring garden: it’s gonna be big.

Garden Program Specialist

Ryan Norman

Farming wasn’t a part of my life until my senior year of college at Hendrix. I was definitely what you would call an academic, and intended to go law school after graduation. But then I chanced upon this collection of essays by Wendell Berry. Berry is a farmer poet in Kentucky that writes about the cultural and ecological shifts in America since WWII.

FoodCorps Service Member

Jill Zartman

Hello! I am Jill Zartman from Huntersville, NC. A graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill May 2011 from Gillings School of Global Public Health. I majored in Nutrition and minored in Chemisty in the school of public health and harnessed a passion for improving health care and serving communities throughout my undergraduate career.

Harrisburg Featured Student: Lucas Wiggins

Harrisburg Garden Progress

Garden Program Specialist

Ryan Norman

Harrisburg In the News

Harrisburg digs its way to a new garden

School breaks ground on new vegetable garden

As the intervention school Harrisburg Middle School will receive:

FoodCorps Service Member

Jill Zartman

Meet the Staff

Harrisburg Middle School Website