Our Garden
Answers to Frequently
asked questions
Driven by global issues and acting on the local level.
Through practical and hands on projects, Solidarity Through Soil aims to bring education, awareness, and tools to all people who wish to invest in the solutions against the struggles that our environment and its inhabitants currently face.
Living in a time when the fabric of the American society is the direct cause of large and unjust social and environmental impact, STS is invested in empowering through the sustainable revolution.
Recognizing that by committing to self-reliance we are lessening the burden on our lands and soils and taking responsibility for our lives, we are committed to living healthy and full lives without sacrificing the rights of others to do the same.
Recognizing that when we build and create together, we are not only creating visible structures, but we are building relationships-which are the true foundation of all structures, seen and unseen.
aManda Greene
When we commit our time and energy to build toward self-reliance we not only create relations with those whom we are working aside, we stand in solidarity with farmers who are forced to poison their lands with chemicals. When we capture our water we stand in solidarity with the precious resource of fresh water and with the watersheds that have become depleted from our miss management.
While working aside friends or strangers, deep relationships are cultivated as we exchange stories and share in the achievements, it is here that class creed and orientations become of little importance and when being human is worth living, breathing, and fighting for.
As our days are filled with the understanding of the Earth as great providers and nurturers, through our interactions and experiences we begin to relate with the snakes, the beavers, and the bears in a new way. We understand that we are all manifested as iatrical and irreplaceable parts of the same essence-life; power is felt through the understanding of this solidarity.
When we connect and honor the Earth we are connecting to and honoring alongside generations of our ancestors and with the vision of those yet to be birthed. By rejecting the linear ways of industry and commit to embodying cycles and flows we commit in solidarity with all life, and with Spirit that manifests itself in countless ways in the beauty and burden on our reality.
“Our Garden,” is an after school garden exploration program, based at Hoover Elementary School in Oakland. California. We work to bring the wonders, mysteries and excitement of our natural world into the lives and school days of inner-city youth. Through basic ecological gardening, reclaimed crafts and rhythm workshops we aim to invite curiosity and nutrition into the young minds to re-introduce connection with our food systems and the natural world.
Through the work with “Our Garden” we bring both the wonders of the natural world as well as some current ecological challenges while providing our students with tools to become urban stewards of the environment they inhabit.
UrbanGREEN is regenerative project–reclaiming unused urban lots and transforming them into areas of urban agriculture initiating and inviting public use and engagement.
Facilitating Permaculture techniques and site specific projects UrbanGREEN turns previously abandoned sites into demonstration of urban sustainability while providing free workshops to the local community. The project thrives on a mutually beneficial relationship; the site gets revitalized while bringing the vocabulary of self-reliance to people through workshops and work-parties.
UrbanGREEN was born out of a partnership with UrbanPEACE working at the New Dharma Meditation Center in Oakland, California.
Within six months the site was cleared and replaced with beds for growing vegetables, a functioning compost bin, and an herbal spiral, along with a 35 gallon roof water catchment. These were all built during weekend Work Parties hosted at the site.
This project will be held at the New Dharma Meditation Center for Urban Peace in Oakland, Ca. The youth involved have been arranged through Angel Kyodushi (center founder) and will gather 1-2 times weekly for practical and theoretical workshops.
I will begin by having a circle of consensus and agreement in which the youth will participate in the project planning and vision. We will then move outside and go through a leaded sensory game, in which the youth will focus on the sight, sound, touch smell and feeling of the location, to better observe and connect with the land they will be working with.
The participants will each have a journal in which they will log the process, collects drawings, notes, and record their personal experience. These journals will not be collected or graded but simply used as personal exploration.
To realize this project I will call on the wealth of sustainable resources available in the Bay Area. This includes but is not limited to those people already involved in the Permaculture and sustainable fields specific to urban regions. Experts in their area will lead one-three day workshops to be held and implemented at the Center’s site and worked on by the youth.
Permaculture calls on indigenous wisdom of the past, while implementing new and cutting edge technologies of today to design human living systems is balance with our natural surroundings.
With Permaculture we work toward the possibility of feeding, clothing, sheltering and sustaining ourselves and our community. This becomes relevant in a time when food and consumer goods are produced from far and resources are depleted in order for them to be created and for them to arrive.
Permaculture is a lifestyle that respects and remembers old ways, meeting our present needs while building for a sustainable future. Honoring the interconnection of all life, Permaculture is a tool that brings practical solutions to an imbalanced world.
By indigenous Wisdom I am referring to the understanding of relationship. In all cultures, be from Africa or the Natives of this land, there was no separation from land and man. Interwoven into every thought and action was the knowledge that what we do to the earth we inevitably do to ourselves.
How could we disrespect the very thing that gives us life? How could we disrespect our children and grandchildren by polluting their waters? How could we disrespect our Ancestors by not holding sacred the land and relationships they build before us?
aManda Greene
WHAT IS THE "OUR GARDEN"
AFTER-SCHOOL GARDEN
EXPLORATION PROGRAM?
“Our Garden” was an after-school garden exploration program, based at Hoover Elementary School in Oakland, California developed by aManda in 2006. These are her words:
“The project titled “Our Garden” aimed to bring the wonders, mysteries, and excitement of our natural world into the lives and school days of inner-city youth.
Through basic ecological gardening, reclaimed crafts, and rhythm workshops I aimed to invite curiosity and nutrition into the young minds to re-introduce connection with our food systems and the natural world.
Through the work with “Our Garden,” my idea was to bring both the wonders of the natural world as well ecological education while preparing my students with tools to become urban stewards of the environment they inhabit.
Scroll down for PHOTOS GALLERY and for ACTIVITIES IDEAS.”
To whom it may concern,
“Kid Rock” and “Peoples grocery” have joined in creating an after school gardening program at Hoover Elementary in West Oakland. We are providing 35 children with a bi-weekly, hands-on gardening and educational program.
We are a non-profit and After-school program dedicated to providing a place urban youth and their families can spend time with soil and learn what it means to eat what you grow.
We are asking our neighboring communities to assist us, to see this project bloom, with their generosity and support. Some of the items on our wish list include:
Organic Dirt (4 Bags) , Liquid Seaweed
Any organic Seasonal starts Especially:
Watermelon, Kiwi, Passion Fruit
Irrigation supplies
We appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you. As our show of gratitude we will be happy to show your support on any publication we print.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Amanda Greene
Program Director
415 216 3362
vidaverde@artnetwork.com
Activities
Game of Observation
Intention: To bring attention to the importance of observation by bringing notice to the individual senses.
Explain: Observation is the beginning of life and often what we as a culture lack. It is through our lost of observation that the social/environmental crisis we face are a result of. When we begin to observe the patterns we find our place in the interconnection of life.
Rub hands together until friction is created…. hot Eyes closed Individually place hands offer eyes, mouth, ears, and nose, get a partner and place hands one inch apart Focus on each sense individually.
What do you feel? Pay attention, Stay focused and quiet as much as possible…keep your eyes shut.
Hoover Garden
aManda Greene
March 8, 2006
Garden Egg dye-Date:April 6, 2006
Materials: Eggs, vinegar, natural dyes (look on added page for recipes), crayons, bowls, spoons, newspaper.
Using natural coloring (turmeric, beets, spinach, red cabbage) to dye eggs and plant seeds of intentions/wishes. The egg is symbolic of spring and the new life that comes with it. The Earth gives us the sustenance for every aspect of our lives; this activity is used to give back to her.
Ask the children what the Earth gives to them. Add what they do not mention and explain that everything that we see and have around us, in one form or another, was extracted from this earth. Talk briefly about cycles and that nothing “goes away,” for example: water cycle and compost this activity is a cycle of gratitude and fertility welcoming the spring and planting wishes for the coming year.
Ask every child to place an intention/wish in the egg. Using a planting space that is clear of plants have the kids dig in and plant their egg.
Hints for the cook
• Wash uncooked eggs in mild soapy water before they are hard-cooked to remove any oily coating that might prevent the dye from adhering.
• To avoid staining your fingers, wear rubber gloves when working with reds, yellows and purples. And cover the table or counter with newspaper or a protective coating for the same reason.
NATURAL DYES FOR EGGS
Pink/red: Fresh beets, pickled beet juice, pickled red cabbage juice, cranberries, frozen raspberries
Orange: Yellow onion skins, paprika
Deep yellow: Ground turmeric
Pale yellow to light green: Spinach leaves, Golden Delicious apple peels
Soft yellows: Orange or lemon peels, carrots tops or shredded carrots, celery seed, ground cumin
Purple: Red Zinger tea (by Celestial Seasonings)
Blue: Canned blueberries, blackberries, red cabbage leaves, purple or red grape juice
Beige to brown: Strongly brewed coffee, tea, walnuts, dill seeds
Brown to orange: Chili powdered, ground cumin
Natural Food Dye
Makes 4 cups.
Add more of the coloring agent for a deeper hue.
• 1 tbsp. spice or 4 c. chopped fruit or vegetable, or more
• 4 c. water, or more
• 2 tbsp. white vinegar (per 4 c. water)
Combine spice or foodstuff with water and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. Eggs can be colored (and cooked) in the dye while it is being prepared. Or they can be hard-cooked in advance, then dipped into the prepared dye (which can be either cold or hot).