Tom Douglas

Building Community and a School Garden at Daniel Bagley Elementary, by guest blogger, Chuck Tessaro

Earlier this year, a team of dedicated individuals including teacher Marguerite Humphrey and parents Andrea Huber and Trudy Tessaro, set out with a vision to transform the outdoor classroom and learning garden at Daniel Bagley Elementary. Their goal is to create an open, beautiful, and inviting space where all classrooms can actively participate and learn through garden based lessons spanning all subject matters.

Dubbed the “Bees in the Garden Committee,” (the school’s mascot is a sprightly bumble bee), a committee of parents and teachers developed a site plan that includes 18 new raised cedar beds, a garden shed, a large community table, a cedar trellis, and two water spigots on each end of the space. The raised beds will be assembled by the fourth and fifth grade students this September, during the first weeks of school! (The kits are being ordered from a company called Natural Yards in Oregon, a supplier to countless school gardens around the country.)

The committee recently partnered with Green Lake Wines and hosted two fundraising events to raise money to purchase the materials for the hardscape.  Each fundraiser included a flight of three gorgeous wines, selected by proprietor Richard Kinssies, paired with three delectable tastes that I created to go with them. The wine and food pairings included: Cono Sur Sparkling Brut NV (Chile) with crostini, smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and pickled red onion; 2006 Bridgeman White Table Wine (Yakima Valley) with risotto, spring pea pistou, toasted walnuts and pecorino; and 2005 Seven Peaks Pinot Noir (France) with rosemary and balsamic braised pork sliders, shaved fennel salad.

Another highlight included custom menus- adorned with artwork created by grateful students, which were given to all attendees.

The Bees in the Garden Committee created “Giving Trees” with tags representing the cost of each raised bed and assorted dollar increments. Thank you gifts to fundraising participants were graciously donated by local businesses, including Tom Douglas Rub with Love, shopping totes from Whole Foods, PCC, and Town and Country Markets, and bottles of wine from Andrew Will WInery.  Richard Kinssies generously donated 25% of the day’s wine sales to the garden project.  Those individuals and businesses donating more than $250 before August 31 will also have their names engraved on a brass plaque that will be displayed in the finished garden.

Overall, the fundraising projects were a huge success and thus far raised over $7,000 for the school garden project!  Coupled with a matching grant the Committee hopes to obtain from the City of Seattle and additional donations, the money raised will be enough to make this dream school garden a reality this September!  We look forward to watching the garden grow!

Thanks to Bruce Miyahara for the great photos!

Editor’s note: Guest blogger Chuck Tessaro and gifted photographer, Bruce Miyahara, are Tom Douglas Summer Camp Lifers and members of Seattle Foodies.

June 8th, 2010