We pulled up the last of our root vegetables last week – carrots, turnips and beets that we started from seed in late July and early August. But the Vegetable Project season is not nearly over (and really never is). For example, we will prepare some tasty dishes with these and more that we grew in the weeks ahead with our Myers Middle School Garden Club. And it is pretty safe to say that we will get many students trying vegetables that they would avoid at a different time and place, such as at the family dinner table.
Creating the moment and the environment where kids happily taste spinach or turnips or Swiss chard is one of the ways we help grow healthy children in Albany. We’re pretty sure that we can also pique interest in science and help stressed kids gain equanimity just from being outdoors. These are labor-intensive efforts, however, and they require resources. Thus, we are grateful for, and really depend on, all the participation in and contribution to our efforts that we can muster.
Here are some of the many ways you can help us make a difference in the lives of Albany kids:
- Save Boxtops for Education, found on scores of national brand packaged products. Please drop them off at Myers or Albany High School or get in touch to arrange a pick We will be making our next submission in late February.
- Collect those Boxtops all year long, year after year, and then encourage your friends, family and neighbors to do the same. It won’t cost a cent.
- Be on the lookout for our seed sale fundraiser from late February to the end of March. And be on the lookout for our bulb sale fundraiser next fall.
- Consider helping in the gardens next spring on your own schedule — watering; watering and weeding; or watering, weeding and additionally tending to plants’ needs. Please get in touch if this might work for you.
- Join us in working with kids, especially during our weekly after-school Garden Club at Myers. Given the volume of work we do by hand and our wish to interact with kids as closely with individual kids as possible, our effectiveness depends on the number of hands on deck.
- Let us know if you can help out with occasional carpentry, desktop publishing, bookkeeping or social media communications.
- Help spread the word about our work, by visiting facebook.com/vegetableproject and liking us, by forwarding our e-mail to friends who might be interested in us and by putting in a good word where you can.
Thanks for your continuing support.
—Bill Stoneman
