KAPA‘A — Some 40 volunteers toiled in the soil Sunday to create a garden for St. Catherine School in Kapa‘a. The educator behind the project, which is being done with the help of the Kaua‘i School Garden Network through Malama
KAPA‘A — Some 40 volunteers toiled in the soil Sunday to create a garden for St. Catherine School in Kapa‘a.
The educator behind the project, which is being done with the help of the Kaua‘i School Garden Network through Malama Kaua‘i, has a broad vision.
Sam Henriques, the St. Catherine School science teacher, said eventually she wants to see the garden develop into a project far bigger than the 17 raised beds, envisioning harvests of grapes, lilikoi and other bounty from the trellises lining one of the school buildings.
“Everything being used to create this garden is recycled,” Henriques said. “We’ve got lumber from garage doors in Keapana, albizia logs from someone who cleared land in Kilauea, and even the compost from Heart and Soul Organics in Moloa‘a was donated.”
Volunteers worked while the church service progressed, and when the dust settled, Kaua‘i School Garden Network coordinator Tiana Kamen said there were three fruit trees planted, nine raised beds created from the recycled albizia logs, eight beds with trellises created out of the lumber from garage doors and a roll of wire found covered over with weeds.
Additionally, three compost bins were built, all amended with “Hendrikus’s very special donated fertilizer,” 40 starters were planted and countless number of seeds.
“The science teacher has been asking for a garden for awhile,” said Kamen. “Now, with the help of the community, she is going to have a garden.”
The Kaua‘i School Garden Network has undertaken several projects, including the revitalization of the school garden at Kilauea Elementary School, gardens at the Kapa‘a Middle School and the King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School, she said. But the St. Catherine School project was the biggest one attempted, requiring Kamen to send out a call for volunteers.
“The whole idea is to get the community involved in planting, cooking and eating its own food,” Kamen said. “We’re trying to re-root people to nature through the schools. The program is called the Kaua‘i School Garden Network because it connects everyone together.”
Once established, Kamen is envisioning the children learning gardening skills by participating in the garden, starting plants through seeds and cuttings while integrating the school’s curriculum such as mathematics with the garden.
Students are able to bring home some of the starts to create their own gardens at home, Kamen said.
School gardens are a unique opportunity for Kaua‘i’s keiki to learn how to grow their own food, cook the food they grow and foster life-long healthy eating habits, states the Malama Kaua‘i website.
There is a school in every garden where the desks turn into clipboards and the textbooks come alive.
While teachers use these living laboratories to reinforce curriculum, the natural world teaches students about patience, cooperation and responsibilities, all facets of a successful garden, the website states.
Kamen said the Kaua‘i School Garden Network was created in June through grants from the Ulu Pono Initiative, the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and Communities Putting Prevention to Work.
Kamen said the Kaua‘i School Garden Network will be available at the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau and the University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture’s 16th Annual Kaua‘i Garden Fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Kaua‘i Community College.
She invited people to drop by and help make paper pots as well as talk about the Kaua‘i School Garden Network and the Farm to Preschool programs.
Visit www.malamakauai.org for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
