We held the last session for the school year of SWC’s Southeast Raleigh Elementary Rooftop Garden Nature Program Friday. For the adult leaders, it was a treat to see the enthusiasm and joy these fourth and fifth-graders showed in our “diggin’ in the dirt” experience with the rooftop container gardens. Brought back to life following a long period of disuse, these amazing kids transformed sixteen container garden boxes by weeding, planting, watering, and nurturing both food crops and pollinator plants for the past several months. The results have been dramatic, all due to their enthusiastic efforts. They harvested the potatoes, kale, radishes, and lettuce they raised to share equally and take home with them that day and proudly showed how big their pollinator plants had grown already!
At the end of each of both the fourth-grade and fifth-grade sessions, each student was presented with a certificate of accomplishment signed by the SWC chapter president, Monty Morée, and the school principal, Lamar Hill. They also each received a packet of NCWF pollinator seed mix to take home and plant wherever they can find a good spot to nurture them for the pollinators.
Cissy McKissick led the core team for the project, which included Dave Barber, Penny Kellar, and Monty. Laura Wood, WCPSS Sustainability Coordinator helped tremendously with delivery at each session, and we have also appreciated assistance from Bill Willis and Amy Davis.
We are excited to plan another series for the coming school year, which begins in September. In the meantime, SWC will continue to hold a couple of workdays to maintain the garden boxes through the summer, while the students are gone. If you are intersted in helping with this project in the future, please reach out to Cissy McKissock or Monty Morée.
