In April, Shannon Brooks, a special education teacher at Lington-Shawton Elementary School, noticed a man walking in a parking lot and pulling a car around. It was a frame for a garden bed on a truck.
She jokingly said to the driver, “Do you have any of these anymore? Because this is exactly what I want! ”
The truck driver was Roger Arp, coordinator of Llington United Methodist Church (UMC) Garden Program. His window rolled down. Brooks recalls:
We were looking for people like you.
Roger Arp
Satellite gardens
Fast forward to August, and four high garden beds sit next to Brooks School. She is part of the Lingington UMC satellite gardening program, which provides a beginner’s kit for gardeners who want to gather in their backyard, realizing that they provide at least 25% of their produce to the church.
Satellite gardens began recruiting other garden volunteers for Lingtonon UMC as a result of Covid-19. The church raised 2 hectares of farmland and garden beds off the main road in Lingtonton.
Because of the epidemic, members of the congregation were often at home, and the concept of satellite gardening grew out of neutrality – and people returning home were more willing to cultivate in their backyards than church volunteers.
Lillington UMC is able to provide grounding equipment, high garden bed frame, fertilizer and seeds. This funding came from the Church, and by 2020, donations from wealthy communities. The church now has seven satellite gardens, including what Brooks expects from the school.
How did this EC teacher grow up?
Brooks observes how involved your student is when he puts things in the classroom and gets dirty.
“My children love gardening, I was not a great gardener,” she said, laughing.
She started with flowers, and if she killed, she would buy a new one. Brooks digs dead plants out of the ground and studies the roots with your student. Getting them involved and showing them how to grow was her priority – and that’s it.
Two years before running with Airp, Brooks took the bricks from a home project and built a small garden outside the classroom. She started planting things from the inside out, but eventually the garden had to be adjusted for the upcoming trailer steps.
She involved some of her classmates who saw how bright their students were in gardening, and the high garden beds were accessible to Brooks students who use wheelchairs or other disabilities.
“Student needs are important. And for that EC or regular edition, like you, if you can find out what drives your kids, and you can teach your kids what their interests are, you need to know what motivates them and how they learn. . ”
Shannon Brooks, a teacher at Lingtonton-Shaw Elementary School
From the short growing season in which the beds came, the school grew pumpkins and green beans and planted pumpkins, pumpkins and corn in the fall. Brooks monitors a monthly satellite production team hosted by Lingtonton UMC and Earphones. It is part of the Church’s Garden Program, and is a way for participants to share resources and stories, struggles, and accomplishments.
It is instructive for this teacher with a glowing green thumb.
“It’s like a labor of love. No, I’m not good at this, but my kids love it and that’s the most important part. ”
Growing up with Lingington UMC
A.D. In 2019, Ray Stanley heard some women talking about starting a garden in the church. He soon harvested the watermelon on a 2-acre[2 ha]plot of land for sale to the church. But instead of selling, they set up a tent at a local hardware store and offered the product. They had a tip pot and received $ 1,500 to donate to the local food warehouse.
Claudia Farr, who had been leading the initiative from the start, really thought she was open-minded and something special.
Far then applied for financial support from wealthy communities. In 2020, the church received funding to hire Erp to coordinate the gardening program. Both Earp’s parents were farmers, so he received much-needed education in the second hand. He was a veteran of the University of North Carolina. Arp likes to do something different every week on the farm.
“I do not think I was so happy,” he says.
Along with satellite gardens and 2 acres of farmland, Lillington UMC has set up high garden beds next to the church. From those high-altitude beds, satellite gardeners and Stanley’s property, head to the local safe house, Love Lad’s pay-per-view restaurant and five other food warehouses.
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Claudia Far with garden beds high up in the church. Caroline Parker / Education N.C. -
Lillington UMC sign. Caroline Parker / Education N.C.
By pruning 73 bushes this year, they harvested a total of about 2,000 ears of corn, radish, cabbage, peas, squash, zucchini, squash and potatoes. They will be evaluating in the coming months to make it more efficient for the coming year. On the farm, okra and pepper are still growing.