Houston High Garden project has been such a blessing for so many people this year - me because it renews my faith that people want healthy food and to grow things, my friend who lost her husband because she likes to stay busy so she doesn't think so much about how life's not fair, and a lot of the kids who will eat the food and who needed some community services hours so they could get some fees waived for the sports seasons! Tons of benefit and tons of produce! Here are some of the forms we have used this year to keep track of what we planted, what we harvested and how many hours we spent doing it! Since we were grant funded this year by a grant from the State of Alaska Department of Agriculture Farm to School Program, we had to keep track and we quickly realized how much we like to see our results on paper! Nice Job!
This form is from a favorite blogger of mine - either I'm channeling her or she is channeling me - we have a lot of the same processes and ideas. This one keeps track of how much we planted vs. how much we harvested. Im pretty sure you could modify it to fit your own needs if there is something missing. For us we are going to modify it to show a column for how much we planted or for how many plants we had. For some of it (carrots) it will have to be an estimate since we did not count the seeds in the packet - we will have to call it 1 oz. For potatoes we know how many pounds of seed we started with, and for tomatoes and zuchinni we know how many plants we have.
http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/10/free-printable-end-of-the-season-garden-tracker.html
She also has some other printable forms that you can get on her site. Check it out!
We are also getting some kids some good community service hours (these are not hours required by a court, but because they look good on the kid, his resume, and his scholarship applications). And also because we are partly grant funded by the State of Alaska Department of Ag Farm to School Program and we need to keep track of how much time everyone is putting in as well as what we are getting out of the garden. We are using this form (see link below) for this because they can use it anywhere in the community, not just for high school services.
http://www.chaffey.edu/honors/com_svc_hours.pdf
Everyone can use community service - feeling like you have made a difference can be a huge boost for morale for folks who are feeling less than good about themselves, it can make up for a lack of funds for a family who needs sports as a motivator, and it can make people aware of a cause that you are passionate about! Some people want to be secret agent service people and I used to be one of those people. I totally get the concept, but read on for why you shouldn't!
A few years ago I was doing some secret community service, I always pick up garbage at the public ice rink while Reed is skating for practices. They are in the parking lot of a middle school and there is always garbage to pick up, it blows in from all over the place and McDonalds is right down the road! I never wanted anyone to know that I was doing that - it was just for me - I knew it was getting cleaned up and didn't care if I got credit for it or if anyone knew I was doing it! It made me feel good to do it and I liked pulling up to a clean parking lot.
One day I had more garbage than I could fit into the back of the car (I had it full with gardening stuff of course), so I tried to sneak it in and throw it away without any one seeing me. The rink staff stopped me - I have no sneak- and asked me why I didnt tell them I was doing it - I went through all the reasons and they finally said "but Lis - we get credit for your volunteer hours - but only if we know about them!" Turns out that they can get grant funds for that type of thing because they have willing volunteers! ONLY if the know about it! Our school is the same way, as is our garden! We get credit for the hours put in - only if we know about it! So keep track of your hours of volunteering that you are doing - even if it is picking up garbage in a parking lot - it is important and it matters!
Stay tuned for the educational handouts we gave out to our volunteers who helped in the garden!
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