Project Head Start

Garden beds on the left of Head Start Schoolyard Great Falls, MT

Because of dedicated parents, teachers and community volunteers joined with Pea Pods Community Gardens, who built the beds and provided other garden resources like seeds and man power, these kids will have a garden to beautify their school as well as compliment their educational and personal growth. Eight raised beds were prepared for planting today. The beds had been built and stained by parents and volunteers on an earlier work day. We drilled holes into the wooden bottom of the beds, lined them with burlap coffee sacks (donated by Morning Light Coffee Shop in town), added dirt into them (provided by the city), and mapped out planting squares with twine. Volunteers trickled in throughout the morning, and within two hours of hammering, shoveling, cutting, and lining, we are ready for planting!

Dirt provided by the city became a favorite mountain for the kids to climb.

Volunteers line coffee burlap sacks with hammer and nails.
This will help keep wood from rotting. 

First, volunteers drilled holes for drainage. 

 

Donated coffee sacks line the bottom. 

Then we filled them with dirt.

And mapped planting squares with twine. 

These raised garden beds sit upon the black asphalt adjacent to the playground and to the left of the entrance to the school. They will serve Head Start students and their families with a place to grow food and build community, while learning how to garden. Head Start is part of the nation wide program funded by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide pre-school through fifth graders (children ages 3-5) with a head start in education and other services. Eligibility is dependent on income level and other factors.

Before

After

It was my own personal Project Head Start. I got a head start on involving myself with my new community and growing food on this land. My apprenticeship begins next week, so this was a great kick-start to becoming involved with cultivating food and understanding the food culture here. I'd say it's been a  pretty successful day number two in Great Falls. I got to help start a school garden and some new friendships. 








*photos by Tiffanie Ma