DeGolyer Discovery Garden

Final Stretch

2012-03-05T08:01:00.000-06:00

This Friday at DeGolyer we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday with the rest of DISD by reading his books out loud in all of the classrooms in the school and after the fun I walked out in the garden to see what we had done and still had to do and was reminded of the Lorax quote-

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.: Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

The parents, students, teacher and faculty of DeGolyer are proving that they care a whole awful lot.....

I would like to write something original here instead of my standard gushing about the dedication of our parents and their commitment to our school and children- not to mention the wonderful support of the DISD facilities staff who have helped- I would like to but there is no other way to express how amazing they have all been!

We had another of our Family build days- our fourth and final one on Saturday and a large turn out put the finishing touches on many areas of the garden. We planted the Mexican Feather grass, finished the paths in the vegetable garden, created cold frames to get a jump on the vegetable planting with the students, cleaned and arranged.

We only have a few details left to take care of over the coming weeks and then we are ready for the dedication March 31! Since the last entry we have also installed two of the triangle benches, stained a labyrinth on the concrete circle and the pergola is starting to take shape. The daffodils we planted in the fall came up like little cheerleaders encouraging us to keep going- its worth it!

I will put a special shout out to our Dad's Club President, Todd Smith who like a elf in the night erected the pergola structure in a blink of an eye. His amazing craftsmanship will be a gift to the students for generations to come- built of cedar this thing is ready for all that Texas has to throw at it. Enjoy the pictures and get ready for some more tweeks and treats between now and the dedication- Saturday March 31 during the DeGolyer Spring Carnival (from 2-5). Hope to see you all there.

Welcome to the New Year!

2012-01-17T15:12:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I was once again amazed and impressed by the very dedicated parents of DeGolyer Elementary as well as the cubs and their parents from Cub Scout Troop 836 (sponsored by the DeGolyer Dad’s Club). The cubs came out as part of their service project- some of them simply live in the community and do not attend the school... Thanks Scouts!

We moved 6 cubic yards of soil into the vegetable garden and the butterfly raised beds, put down landscape cloth and piled on the decomposed granite all around the butterfly beds and into the vegetable garden, sunk in all of our raised beds boarders and organized the planting area in the vegetable garden, got one of the toppers on the butterfly garden and installed two of the triangle benches. Talk about a run on sentence of WORK!

The weather matched our spirits by being beautiful- even in January!


Here are the scouts putting down the ground cloth around the butterfly garden

Shaping the Vegetable Garden

Bringing in the Benches

Everyone was helping at the Dirt pile

I dont know how much the kids shoveled but they had a great time.

The Vegetable Garden taking shape

Last bag of Granite (for today)

Starting the Butterfly Garden Toppers

Working together to make the garden great!

Off site we are in the final planning stages of the pergola/ gazebo, ordering our stone pavers to honor or teachers and preparing for the next build day March 3^rd. With the dedication March 31! Mark your calendars!

Final push of 2011

2011-12-10T17:04:00.000-06:00

Today we planted hundreds of bulbs in the discovery garden as well as cleaned up the garden area in front of the school.

Although at the end of the day the garden looked no different than when we began the daffodils and iris have all been planted with care and gently watered in the hope that they will make their grand entrance in the spring.

Lucky for us a DeGolyer neighbor and hopefully future DeGolyer grandparent, Lynn Hill, found out about our little project and donated the iris bulbs from her daughter's yard.....
"I was told that the family who owned the house belonged to the Dallas Iris Society and had some prized bulbs in the garden. We never found out which ones they were, but the luck of the draw may put DeGoyer in possession of show quality bulbs!"

That just makes the upcoming spring all the more exciting! Thank you Hill Family!!!!

The iris bulbs were planted by the teacher lounge window as a splash of beauty before the kids head back into school. The daffodils will peek out from among all of the grasses.

Looking forward to the upcoming holidays and then getting back to the garden in the new year!

Family Build Day- The Sequal

2011-11-13T18:29:00.000-06:00

Working on the raised beds in the Veg. Garden

There are no better group of parents than DeGolyer Parents! Another day of moving dirt, granite and taking back the vegetable garden.

In the vegetable garden we were able to dig in the new dividers for the raised beds, uncover the rain barrels and designate a great location for compost as well as take back the supply corner from debris and make it a useful space again.

Veg Garden taking shape

Day Two of moving- adding more dirt & granite

Raised Beds taking shape

View at the end of day, Sunday

View at the end of the day, Sunday

We are poised for the next build weekend to install the benches, finish the raised butterfly garden beds, plant some more of our landscaping (including bulbs) among other things.

Our Gazebo structure will be installed in the spring along with the vegetables and finishing touches.

Thanks to all the great parents and kids who helped this weekend. This will be a project we can all be proud of.

Saturday's Family Build Day

2011-11-13T11:28:00.000-06:00

What a great way to spend a Saturday and meet some more amazing parents! Yesterday was our First Family build Day at DeGolyer and everyone from the principal and teachers to the girl scouts, boy scouts and even a Lowe's Associate showed up to help. And we cannot forget all of our wonderful parents who lent a hand anywhere something needed doing. There were wheelbarrows to load, granite to rake, cinder blocks to lay, tilling, weed block fabric and just the cleaning alone- not to mention feeding hungry workers, watching kids and just all around being amazing.

We started out the morning trying to simply dig holes for the trees (Ramona the River birch, Charles the Chinese Pistachio & Filbert the Forest Pansy Red Bud) Well, the dirt proved even too much for the rented commercial auger that was brought. Thankfully there were some very kind and generous construction workers near by who just happened to have a back how and a soft place in their heart for elementary school volunteers. The trees were planted, watered and staked in their new homes where they will watch over our kids for years to come.

The cleaning of the garden and the picking up of the debris from the concrete pour rounded out our morning. We moved on to laying landscape fabric to help with weed control and filling those areas with decomposed granite and rubber mulch from a parade of wheelbarrows. The vegetable garden was cleared and ready for a new beginning. Our hardy girl scouts and dads braved the clay and planted some of our grasses before all was said and done we were starting to look like a real garden.

It seemed like every time I turned around there was someone else asking what they could do to help. We finished more yesterday than I thought we would get done in the whole weekend.

Just in case you were wondering about all that debris, the guys returned from dumping and it ended up being 2.7 TONS!!!! That’s a lot of moving!

Morning Auger

Trying to start the hole & moving debris

more raking

Bringing in the "big guns"

This is cool right?

I mean come on

Look at all our workers- Even Dr Cobb!

The girl scouts starting the granite

Many Dads make light work

Starting to look like a Garden!

Moving mulch

Add caption

End of Day One

Kids conquer the dirt

Vegetable Garden ready to go!

Teacher's are workers too!

2011-11-13T10:59:00.000-06:00

Dirt Delivery

The dried concrete ready for work

cinder blocks & rubber mulch

Our tree Family

Teachers in the garden Re-hab

More Garden Re-hab

At the end of Friday

Friday a gaggle of teachers stayed late after school and got our build weekend off to a great start. They began the rehab of the veg garden, started to lay out the landscaping fabric and trim the roses.....
All the items we will be using this weekend were also delivered today... its getting exciting!
Thanks for all the amazing teachers who put in extra time for our kids!

CONCRETE!!!!

2011-11-09T19:47:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful cool day to pour concrete. Starting about 9:30 the truck arrived and around 13 yards of concrete was poured into the forms. We are expecting beautiful dry weather for the next few days as we make our final prep for the coming family build days!

Wow Wow Wow... I guess I should be used to the fact that this is really happening now but I am still amazed that a bunch of volunteers at a public school can pull this off!

Our kids, our teachers, our community are worth it!

Bird's Eye View

2011-11-08T08:47:00.000-06:00

Its taking shape! Hard to believe that just a week ago this was a dirt mess and hard to imagine what is will look like after our family build days this weekend! Concrete Pour Tomorrow!!!!

(bird's eye view courtesy of Todd Smith from the roof!)

ReBar

2011-11-07T13:06:00.000-06:00

The forms are finished and the re-bar is going in today for a Wednesday pour! Concrete pour- not rain (Please let the rain hold off on Wednesday).

Planning pow-wow this afternoon to make sure that we are ready for this weekend's family build days.

Thanks to Kerrie Smith for the great picture and Todd Smith for heading up the concrete forms.

It's Really Happening

2011-11-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the forms started to go in to prepare for the concrete pour next week. Can you believe it?

More images from the site today while they put in the rebar and the rest of the forms. Thank you, Mother Nature, for the beautiful weather!

Layout Begins!

2011-10-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

Can you start to see the paths?

First Fibonacci of the day

Happy Halloween!

The beautiful garden dressed up as a pile of dirt. (But not for long!)

It was a great day at DeGolyer and what better way to enjoy it than to layout the garden concrete shapes? Todd Smith, Dad's Club President and concrete aficionado and Donna Marquet spent the day pouring of the plans, double checking the measurements and fitting it in the space. Luckily everything fit beautifully with only a few very minor adjustments. Circles, rectangles, triangles and the Fibonacci curves were laid out with the same mathematical principals we hope the kids will embrace.

The black plastic boarders that will serve as our raised bed boarders in the vegetable garden were also delivered by DISD ground crews.

Next step- build the forms for the concrete, lay the rebar and then we are ready to pour… Early next week! Perfect timing and ready for our first family build day!

What A Mess!!!!

2011-10-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

I suppose it has to get worse before it can get better.... Super grateful to DISD grounds crew headed up by Coy Fraizer for getting this site cleared of grass and ready for work to begin. Also thankful for the teachers and staff for their patience in shuttling the kids past this mess and keeping them out of it.

It's daunting- like looking at a blank canvas.....

Time to get messy!!!

Another exciting development is all of the
decomposed granite has been delivered and is ready to be distributed to the garden. It will provide a ground cover around the butterfly gardens, under the gazebo and by the trellis....It doesn't seem like too much to move does it?

Bring your wheel barrows & schedule a massage....

Logo

2011-10-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

Every great project needs a logo... Here is ours- Get ready to see it on a lot of print material!

The Design

2011-10-25T21:20:00.000-05:00

from Donna Marquet:
I get tongue tied when I start to describe this garden. There are so many elements to talk about… So I will just start with the beginning. I walked around with a list of elements I found via different websites, outing with my kids and just random thoughts in aisle seven of the grocery store. Without censorship I just keep adding to the list until we got back to school and then the list was put out in front of the committee- What things did they like, what other ideas did they want to add… And while the list was getting fine tuned I sat several times in the space we were about to convert discovering how the classes flow past, what the sun was doing during the school day as well as who’s classroom windows overlook the space, taking measurements and what the space felt like. To me if felt like an afterthought, abandoned but it has the potential to be a focused space (shielding on three sides by the school) where a learning environment has real potential- it feels safe and the scale is perfect- about 80’ x 50’.

Here are the things from the list that made the cut.

The first thing is the “gazebo”. The area needs shade- there are no trees and it is bombarded with sun during the day. We also wrote our original grant proposal with a gazebo in it. We have a midcentury modern school with graceful angled roofs at the entrance. So instead of building a typical
“Victorian” inspired hexagon we are taking a cue from the angles of the entrance as well as the noonday sun to maximize shade with a slatted roof. Under the roof we will have a few straight benches, a circle area with decomposed granite and some “percussion instruments” various sized pipes cemented and when tapped create different tones as well as a version of steel drums.

In the center of the space is a circular cement area that will have a maze dyed in the concrete. The mazes has had versions in cultures all over the world as well as long as people have created there have been existence of mazes and labyrinths. I felt this was an important thing to include in the garden as a place where kids can play (its just fun to wander a maze) as well as tap into the cultural and historical elements for a lesson. Also, mazes tend to draw one into a focused contemplation- meditative in a way. I also find it to be such a wonderful illustration of discovery- you will go down wrong paths and have to learn from your mistakes in order to get to your goal.

There are three areas that will have trees with benches under them. These trees were chosen for their variety. The Chinese Pistachio tree will be fast growing and provide shade to the space. A muti-trunk river birch with its wonderful bark and delicate leaves. An ornamental redbud with its changing seasonal foliage. The trees are at the corners of the garden and form a triangle so the benches are also triangles as well each one a different type: isosceles, equilateral, and scalene. We wanted as many things as possible to serve an educational purpose as well as a practical function and these benches are a perfect example- sitting on math.

As a designer in my real life I have always been drawn to curves- if someone ever mapped my design process it is full of curves- flowing back on themselves and being pulled in a variety of directions as I work. I have two boys and I have also never seen them walk in a straight line. Kids flow. For these reasons I wanted to include curved paths in the garden… But as with other elements I didn’t want them to be just curves. (Well initially I did but again the committee pushed me to go further) And I re-stumbled upon the Fibonacci number (http://plus.maths.org/content/life-and-numbers-fibonacci). This concept has always intrigued me and I am so excited to include it in the garden as our three paths. We are using the Fibonacci spiral a wonderful graceful way that math and nature intersect. Someone said that maybe these kids are too young to understand this concept but I think introducing these sort of things early on simply serves to help familiarize and then when the concept is really delved into. Later the child can say “Hey I know- that’s what those crazy paths were at my school.” Also- once a mind is opened you cant close it-13 year old harnesses the power of the sun with Fibonacci.

Trellis Easel. There are, as there are on most campuses some physical plant elements outside of the building- ours are some pipes that lead to the boiler. We decided to block them by creating a trellis with purple passion vine growing on it as it blooms twice a year when the kids are in school. The trellis will also serve as an easel for teachers to put the provided boards on to display things to their class or for the art teacher to allow the kids to sketch standing up outside.

There are several stepping “stones” throughout the garden. These will be made of tree trunks that have been sliced and treated. They will be at a variety of heights as well for kids to step from one to the next as well as to sit on. Among these “stones” will also be some concrete stones engraved with quotes from out retired teachers. A fun way to remember them and inspire our students.

Along the building we will be building some raised beds that will include the neediest (water wise) of our plants (even though they are still low maintenance)- our butterfly and herb garden. We are hoping to of course attract butterflies but also present an array of plants that the kids can touch, smell and maybe even taste. We will also be providing living quarters for our winged friends in the form of birdhouses and butterfly houses.

Three of our areas will be planted with different grasses that will show the variation within species for our older students as well as different heights and textures to explore. These were chosen since they are relatively low maintenance. One of our goals with the Discovery Garden is to have a space that the groundskeepers will not have to tend to or mow. We decided against typical grasses as there are plenty of areas around our school with that (including the playground a few steps away). We are also planting a few bushes that do well here – Turks caps- they are water wise and have beautiful red blooms and rosemary as the children pass back into the classroom. The rest of the ground cover will consist of decomposed granite, concrete and rubber mulch. Again we are always aware of maintenance as well as longevity of the space.

Well, that is the idea anyway. As the days progress and I show the plans to more and more people excitement is growing and the team and I hope that it will serve the students of our school in a way that will encourage them to wonder, wander and discover.

In the Beginning.....

2011-10-25T21:12:00.000-05:00

Wonderful thing money... especially when it is a grant for your elementary school to help beautification.... That is what happened last year when then PTA vice president Gretchen Crichton applied for the Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant and received $4,000 towards construction a outside learning location with a gazebo.... Throw in support from the "Loving Our School Campaign" and the Dad's Club and here we sit on a virtual pile of money (the pile's size is relative- this is a public school after all).

Amazing thing timing.... Our school lost several of it's long serving teachers last year and what a better way to honor their years of devotion to our school but to dedicate the "garden" to them.

Terrific thing volunteers...Ideas of putting a gazebo between the two east wings of the building or maybe in front of the school were thrown about but after a long car ride full of committed PTA moms on the way to the PTA conference in Austin all that was thrown out under the auspices of what does DeGolyer need. What will the teachers use? Where are the kids? What can we really do to make a difference? How best to honor the teachers that recently retired? The location was changed to an area the kids pass by on their way to the playground full of sun and an abandoned grassy mess. It has the advantage of being next to the vegetable garden (more on that later) as well and being some place the kids can access everyday. Moms should not really be allowed to be in a car that long together, the wheels in their brain spin as fast as those on the pavement. What we are really blessed with is a flock of committed parents who we know we can tap into to get this project done- Armed with a little money and all the volunteer talent we were feeling unstoppable.

And then there we were- A location, some money, a school full of students, teachers to serve and honor not to mention a cast of amazing volunteers who are not to be underestimated... Now what?

Get the kids back in school and start dreaming, asking questions and designing. Questions were being thrown about that ranged from what is the origin of 'garden' to what is the grade of the slope, what plants will require the least amount of maintenance and have the most variety of texture, color size to excite the kids imagination. We looked at best practices from lots of different websites such as...

http://sesoutdoorclassroom.blogspot.com/

http://www.grannysgardenschool.com/

http://www.arborday.org/explore/classroom/certified/iaMaharishi.cfm

http://www.readytogrowgardens.com/blog/about/

http://kingopengarden.blogspot.com/2010/04/pictures-of-mitchell-school-project-by.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20100303-The-garden-is-a-classroom-at-2746.ece

http://www.realschoolgardens.org/

http://www.citysprouts.org/

We spoke with teachers, the principal and other parents about what they want, dream of, think….

We sat with lots of images, ideas and dreams right next to the reality of the situation-

We have a time constraint (we have to fulfill the grant by the spring.) We are doing this with volunteer labor. We are in Texas and growing anything poses a challenge. This is a public place that we want to encourage kids to enjoy but kids also can be as destructive as a herd of cattle. School gardens tend to die out after the first generation of parents “graduate”- How do we make something that can be sustainable? How do we implement this without losing steam and keeping our own sanity? What design ignites the imagination of the kids, works with the architecture of the building and is so user friendly it draws you in?

The drawings began- and more meetings- with parent volunteers who have landscaping expertise, project management backgrounds and design skills. We also met with out principal and the director of DISD grounds, Mr. Coy Fraiser. Of course our principal Dr. Alecia Cobb is on board and is very encouraging. However, when you think of a big school district such as ours you immediately think of the red tape and bureaucracy to get anything done and then you meet someone like Coy Fraiser and that is all thrown out the window. He was such a great support and help. We gave him our pitch and instead of being aloof and wishing us luck or even worse shutting us down, he offered pointers, vendors and even to clear the site for us! This was such an amazing help since clearing the site was going to eat up a lot of our “budget” in volunteers. He answers emails right away and could not be more helpful... Having a contact you can trust takes such a weight off your shoulders. We know this garden would happen but it will go all the more smoothly because of Mr. Fraiser.

So now we are set up with a design, approval from the district and a core team of volunteers that are leading the charge. What is so great about the “core” is that each one possesses a skill set that compliments the rest and each one is committed to the project's ideals. We have one person heading up budgeting and volunteers, one heading up the overall design, a hardscape contractor and a landscape/ plant expert. We also have a marketing expert working to get the word out to the community about our effort. Now let's be honest- you can have less people to “plan” this thing but having a group fuels each person with more ideas, encouragement as well as not leaving one feeling overwhelmed.

So here we go- stay tuned for updates and more pictures of the progress. Next post- all about the design.