Towson students have made a great short film about baltimore green spaces

Towson students have made a great short film about baltimoe green spaces

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Curtis Bay Green Team Works w/ Filbert Street Gardeners to plant Fruit Trees

In the spring, The Filbert Street Community Garden is going to be facilitating a mentorship program between Ben Franklin High School and the students at Curtis Bay Elementary / Middle.  Not only will this teach the students how to work together to manage a small orchard, perform energy audits, and grow food, but it will hopefully have a have a positive effect on the High School's low enrollment.

   











 In preparation for the spring, the Curtis Bay Green Team planted 2 paw-paw trees and 2 plum trees, donated by the Parks and People Foundation.

Sprouts Program... Round 2!

The cooperation between the Filbert Street Community Garden and Curtis Bay Elementary / Middle continues to grow!

 Both Ms. Ahmann's and Ms. Wells' class took the Sprout Mix Recipe they developed and used it to mix, soak, rinse, and measure the growth of their sprouts seeds.

Filbert St. Garden featured on MyBmore.net!

Great Ideas Are Sprouting Up

In cooperation with Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School, the Filbert Street Garden has started to pilot a sprouts growing program for winter.  With quick germination times, mess free growing, and no need for special equipment, sprouts are a teacher's best friend when it comes to growing edibles in the classroom.  The first part of this program consists of 4 45 minute long lessons.  Both Ms. Wells' class and Ms. Ahmann's class just had their 1st lessons recently, and they are off to a great start.

Students work in groups, or if the class is small enough, as a class.

 After we learn a little bit about sprouts and sprout anatomy, the taste test begins!

  

Students use the color-coded plates to help them remember which kinds of sprouts they liked the most (Alfalfa and Broccoli did well for themselves) which they liked the least (poor Radish, getting no love) and what one distinguishing characteristic of each sprout is. 

After the taste test is over, each group is challenged to come up with their "Perfect Sprout Recipe."  

What blend of the 

varieties they tasted will yield the tastiest sprout salad?  

The teams use a very basic pie graph to color in 

how many slices of each sprout type they want... 

using the colors of the color-coded plates.

After each group has colored in their recipe, they share their pie chart with the class, and recognize the similarities and differences in each other's preferences.

After they've made their comparisons, we all work together to develop...

THE PERFECT SPROUT RECIPE!!!!

Garden Day Pictures and Updates!

For any folks who weren't able to make the Garden Day, it was a truly fantastic day!  Huge thanks to the members of the Curtis Bay community, Mr. Dallas' and Ms. Well's Classes from Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle, the students from Ben Franklin High School, UMBC, Towson, CCYD, Parks and People Foundation, the Knott Foundation, Open Society Institute, Child First Authority, and the Baybrook Coalition.  With the help of 90+ volunteers, we managed to finish the first half of the Community Nature Trail,

the CBEMS Green Team
(under the guidance of Mr. Toma Solano)
built Cold Frames to allow them
to grow food for their fellow
students throughout the
winter months,

and we prepared the garden for the changing seasons.


After almost 6 hours of work, everyone was ready for the music of local group the Dead Whale Ramblers, whose music made a great accompaniment to the campfire dinner of Pumpkin Stew, Hot Dogs, Veggie Dogs, salsa, veggies, and S'mores.

Many local kids cooked their first S'more, and got to hear the story of the 3 sisters, a Native American gardening tale, from guest storyteller James Electric.

GARDEN DAY!!!

Friday, October 28th from noon to 6pm, the Filbert St. Garden will be having an all-day Garden Celebration.  Come out and enjoy working in the garden with your neighbors any time between noon and 6.  Stick around afterwards for LIVE MUSIC, and a CAMPFIRE DINNER.
The garden is located at 1317 Filbert St. in Brooklyn/Curtis Bay, right next to the historic Water Tower.

Garden Work Day/Potluck, Sat. the 24th!

Come on out to the garden for a fall work day and potluck.  Bring a dish to share, enjoy some live music from the Dead Whale Ramblers, and help us plant our cover crop and work on our nature trail.
1317 Filbert St.
Next to the water tower, across from Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle (4301 W. Bay)

Filbert Street Community Garden Hosting Work Day!

On Saturday August 27th, from 10am to noon, Filbert Street Community Garden (1317 Filbert Street, 21226) will be hosting some volunteers from the Parks and People Foundation to help us finish our Guided Nature Trail.  Come out for a bit on Saturday morning to show your support for the garden and the community of Brooklyn/Curtis Bay.

The Child First Authority After-School Garden Club wrote, directed and produced 

"Dr. Rotface":  a film about composting

The Garden Club students wanted to create a movie which illustrated the benefits of composting.  They brainstormed and storyboarded the script for an elite crew living on the "Green Submarine"- the worlds first compost-powered sub.  Dr. Rotface escapes from his confinement cell and steals the compost for himself.  The crew tricks him into trying to compost items that don't belong in compost, and he is drained of his power.  Congratulations to all of the Curtis Bay Elementary Middle students involved.

Curtis Bay Class is Doing Some Serious Gardening!

Mr.s Dallas' class has been participating in the Filbert Street Garden's "Spring Garden Curriculum",  a series of lessons designed to introduce teachers and students to the resources offered by their community garden.  They have learned to read a planting calendar:

Started seedlings indoors:

and done some amazing work out in the garden- preparing their plot, planting beets and chard, working on pathways, and weeding.

GARDEN ART DAY on Saturday April 30th!

Come on out from 2-5pm on saturday to help us paint a whole bunch of tires for flower planters.  We'll also plant some sunflowers and corn, and it's a perfect time to sign up for a plot and put some plants in!

See you at the garden, next to the water tower on Filbert Street.

HELP BALTIMORE'S OWN FILBERT STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN GET AN ORCHARD FOR THE BROOKLYN CURTIS BAY COMMUNITY

Communities Take Root

Click on "Plant"
Got to the List by State... Click on "Filbert Street Garden" in MD.
VOTE FOR US EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!!

Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle Celebrates!!!!!!

On monday of this week (April 11th) the ENTIRE CBEMS community celebrated this year's greening achievements with a school-wide celebration.  Students explored their watershed and met a terrapin brought by Living Classrooms/Masonville Cove.

The Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge had a really cool station providing a great visual experience illustrating the amounts of energy used by conventional and energy-saving bulbs.

The CBEMS Green Team Compost Captains had a composting relay race,

and Child First Authority After School planted a Black Eyed Susan flower with each and every kid.

Meanwhile... classes rotated out to the auditorium to hear Keith Losoya of local compost company Waste Neutral explain composting, and to watch a short film about composting.  Thanks to all involved, we couldn't have done it without you!

SATURDAY CLEAN UP April 9th.

GOD’S WAY COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

is hosting a

Pascal Street Community Clean up on Saturday, April 9th 10am-1pm

Come to Pascal Street, directly behind Farring Baybrook Park and CBEMS, and help your neighbors improve and beautify the neighborhood.  
Featuring support from the Filbert Street Garden Grant Program, and the Parks and Recreation Department

For more info, contact Mike Jarman @ 443-418-4701

Child First After School Program Begins Composting!

The Child First After School program is setting quite an example in the Brooklyn Curtis Bay neighborhood.  In a program designed by the Filbert Street Garden, the After School program is now composting all of their food waste from dinner!!!!!!!!  


Not to be outdone, the Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle Green Team has just started a school-wide recycling program.

For those who couldn't make it out to the garden day on Saturday, it was a wonderful time.  The kiddos painted our shed and gate, and put the last load of soil on our green roof.  Community members tilled their plots, planted a flower bed, started work on the outdoor education area and did a general clean up.


We finished the day with s'mores over a small campfire in our fire pit.  Don't worry, there will be another garden day in april, so be sure to come out!
    


ONE LAST REMINDER... VISIT THE GRANT SECTION OF OUR BLOG TO APPLY FOR THE FILBERT STREET SHOWCASE GARDEN GRANT=FREE MONEY!

1st GARDEN DAY OF THE SEASON!!! Sat. MARCH 26TH

On Saturday March 26th 2-6pm, come on out to the 1300 block of Filbert Street, next to the water tower.  We'll be having a potluck and live music in the garden, along with a work day for a few hours.  Choose a plot for yourself, or help us prepare our field and green roof for the coming season.  Plant some flowers and enjoy the weather.  We'll reward you with some lovely acoustic music, and a whole mess of shared food from your neighbors... who doesn't love a potluck?

Child First and Curtis Bay are Growing!

The partnership between Child First Authority's After-School Program and Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle has resulted in a Spring Garden Curriculum.  10 classes of all different grades have volunteered to help the after-school garden club grow school participation in the garden by hosting seedlings, making observations on different plant's growth and caring for them, and in the months to come, planting them in the garden!

So far the gardeners have planted turnips, celery, tomatoes, eggplant, collards, spinach, brussells sprouts, broccolli, cabbage and lettuce!

GREEN ROOF CONSTRUCTION FINISHED! Now we've got to plant the thing

In Filbert Street Garden's first year, the Chesapeake Center for Youth Development (CCYD) Building Trades program built a shed for the community garden and helped to coordinate high-school volunteers.

They've really set the bar high for this year already, though.  They've finished construction of a green roof for the garden, and are working on gates for our new garden fence and a gravity-fed irrigation system using donated rain barrels.  For more about CCYD's programs, check them out at:
                www.ccyd.org

And keep checking for more updates, it's growing time!