We have had a very successful semester and we fortunately got all of the work done that we wanted to. When we finally bought the redwood for the boxes, we ended up working in the wood shop for three days to put all of the parts together. We didn't assemble the garden boxes in the wood shop, but we cut the wood and assembled the sides for each box. When we were done in the wood shop, we brought all of the pieces to West Portal Elementary School and assembled two of the boxes. The other boxes were left in pieces so the garden program at West Portal can use the boxes when they need them. We formed a wonderful partnership with West Portal Elementary School and with Amy Mack, our contact at this school.
Throughout this project, we faced many ups and downs as a group. The biggest challenge we faced was getting all of our work done in time. We were worried that assembling the garden boxes and preparing all of the wood would take longer than it did. But, fortunately, we worked very hard and got everything done on time. As a group, we have learned to work with each other's strengths and weaknesses. All of us now know what each of our group member excels at and we utilized each person's strengths during this process. We have learned so much about ourselves and each other, and this class and project was an amazing experience of giving back and self-exploration.
This is Caroline, Dario, Danny, and Elizabeth from the Sustainable Agriculture group in the philanthropy initiative 2010 class signing off.
This blog will stay open until we pass it on to the next class.
May 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Garden Box Sketch-Up Designs
These are the garden boxes we designed in sketch up. We will be getting the wood and assembling the boxes in the next few classes!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Timeline, Working Protocols, Personal Purpose, and Milestones of Success
Timeline:
Day 1
Contacted public elementary schools by email to see which ones were interested in getting garden boxes.
Day 2
Received emails from several schools who were interested. Began to think about how to make the garden boxes, what to include. Possible collaboration ideas.
Day 3
Organized a meeting with West Portal Public Elementary School for the next work day with Amy Mack.
Day 4
Visited West Portal Elementary School to see how they used their garden to educate the youngsters and how big their garden was. We also talked to Amy Mack about what they needed.
Day 5
We decided to keep in touch with them because of feasibility issues - we didn't think we would have time to start a garden at a different school, we thought it would be better to enlarge the garden at West Portal. We kept in contact with Amy Mack and got information on what they wanted in their garden. Made a blog.
Day 6
Continued to work on blog, began to draw up plans on how to make the garden box - dimensions, materials, where we were planning to build it.
Day 7
Called Lumber companies to see how much the materials would be, completed application for budget.
Day 8
Call lumber companies, calculate prices. Work on Blog.
Day 9
Finish budget planning, finally decide where to buy lumber, seeds, etc.
Day 10
Get Budget, buy lumber, obtain seeds and stuffs.
Day 11
Start building boxes
Day 12
continue making boxes
Day 13
Finish the boxes, start moving them to West Portal Elementary school
Day 14
Install all the boxes
Day 15
Plan presentation
Day 16
Presentations
Day 17
Presentations
Working Protocols:
In our group, one of the main guidelines that has worked is that we split up all of the work evenly, and everyone finishes their share. We have found that when everyone does their part and puts in the effort to complete their work, our project moves forward and we use our time better in class. When we divide the work, we usually give people work that they want to do, which compels them to do their work well. The main thing that we would like to change in our working protocols is to communicate better when one of our group mates is not in class. Keeping everyone up to date on what is going on is key to having this project be successful. We have not been doing this that well, and if we improve on this, our project will end up being better.
Personal Purpose:
Dario: Design of boxes, blog updates, assembly of boxes, buying supplies
Danny: Public relations, assembly of boxes, ad clicking, buying supplies
Elizabeth: Blog updates, transportation, assembly of boxes, buying supplies
Caroline: Design of boxes, assembly of boxes, buying supplies, budget management
Milestones of Success:
For our group, we believe that we will have achieved success if we finish the garden boxes and install them at West Portal Elementary School. We want to makes a definite difference in our community, and by completing this project, we will have done that. We are taking this project step by step, and we are only doing one thing at a time, but we are still looking that the future and our overall timing for the rest of the semester. We need to stick to the schedule above to achieve success in this project.
Day 1
Contacted public elementary schools by email to see which ones were interested in getting garden boxes.
Day 2
Received emails from several schools who were interested. Began to think about how to make the garden boxes, what to include. Possible collaboration ideas.
Day 3
Organized a meeting with West Portal Public Elementary School for the next work day with Amy Mack.
Day 4
Visited West Portal Elementary School to see how they used their garden to educate the youngsters and how big their garden was. We also talked to Amy Mack about what they needed.
Day 5
We decided to keep in touch with them because of feasibility issues - we didn't think we would have time to start a garden at a different school, we thought it would be better to enlarge the garden at West Portal. We kept in contact with Amy Mack and got information on what they wanted in their garden. Made a blog.
Day 6
Continued to work on blog, began to draw up plans on how to make the garden box - dimensions, materials, where we were planning to build it.
Day 7
Called Lumber companies to see how much the materials would be, completed application for budget.
Day 8
Call lumber companies, calculate prices. Work on Blog.
Day 9
Finish budget planning, finally decide where to buy lumber, seeds, etc.
Day 10
Get Budget, buy lumber, obtain seeds and stuffs.
Day 11
Start building boxes
Day 12
continue making boxes
Day 13
Finish the boxes, start moving them to West Portal Elementary school
Day 14
Install all the boxes
Day 15
Plan presentation
Day 16
Presentations
Day 17
Presentations
Working Protocols:
In our group, one of the main guidelines that has worked is that we split up all of the work evenly, and everyone finishes their share. We have found that when everyone does their part and puts in the effort to complete their work, our project moves forward and we use our time better in class. When we divide the work, we usually give people work that they want to do, which compels them to do their work well. The main thing that we would like to change in our working protocols is to communicate better when one of our group mates is not in class. Keeping everyone up to date on what is going on is key to having this project be successful. We have not been doing this that well, and if we improve on this, our project will end up being better.
Personal Purpose:
Dario: Design of boxes, blog updates, assembly of boxes, buying supplies
Danny: Public relations, assembly of boxes, ad clicking, buying supplies
Elizabeth: Blog updates, transportation, assembly of boxes, buying supplies
Caroline: Design of boxes, assembly of boxes, buying supplies, budget management
Milestones of Success:
For our group, we believe that we will have achieved success if we finish the garden boxes and install them at West Portal Elementary School. We want to makes a definite difference in our community, and by completing this project, we will have done that. We are taking this project step by step, and we are only doing one thing at a time, but we are still looking that the future and our overall timing for the rest of the semester. We need to stick to the schedule above to achieve success in this project.
Friday, April 9, 2010
West Portal Elementary School
We visited West Portal Elementary the Friday before Spring Break just to get a better idea of what we could do. We met Amy Mack, the Head of the Garden Program at the school and discussed possible projects. Here are some of the ideas that she gave us:
-We need to replace 4 planter boxes which are set on ground so they're open bottomed. If possible, we could install 2 more of these boxes, for a total of 6 They are 4'X4' and about 18" high.
-The veggies I would like to plant would be carrots, lettuces, chard, potatoes, maybe some crooked necked squash. I'm open to other ideas as well, if you would like to have input. Ideally we'd plant enough to fill the planter boxes. Carrots are usually started from seed, lettuce and chard from seed or starts, potatoes from "seed potatoes" (pieces of potato with the eye on them), and squash from starts. The total number would be determined by the number of planter boxes we have to work with.
-We need to replace 4 planter boxes which are set on ground so they're open bottomed. If possible, we could install 2 more of these boxes, for a total of 6 They are 4'X4' and about 18" high.
-The veggies I would like to plant would be carrots, lettuces, chard, potatoes, maybe some crooked necked squash. I'm open to other ideas as well, if you would like to have input. Ideally we'd plant enough to fill the planter boxes. Carrots are usually started from seed, lettuce and chard from seed or starts, potatoes from "seed potatoes" (pieces of potato with the eye on them), and squash from starts. The total number would be determined by the number of planter boxes we have to work with.
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