S. Winn FFA Receives $10,000 for Greenhouse

South_Winneshiek greenhouse grantSeeds of Change(R), maker of organically grown seeds and nutritious organic foods, has announced this year’s 16 Share the Good grant recipients. The Salinas Education Center Garden in Salinas, Calif. will receive a $25,000 grant while 15 additional organizations will receive $10,000 grants to support new or existing community based gardening and sustainable farming programs.  The South Winneshiek FFA chapter in Calmar was a recipient of a $10,000 grant for their school greenhouse project. Continue reading

Another Grant!

Earlier this spring, I applied for the Alliance Pipeline Community Investment grant for the North Fayette “Growing Green Kids” Greenhouse Project. I applied for $7,500 to pay for the actual greenhouse structure. Today I was notified that not only did we receive the grant, Alliance wants to provide us with extra funds! They loved the idea of the project and they really want to support us! Continue reading

Composting & Nature Bracelets

I recently wrote a garden grant for Lime Springs/Chester Elementary School- they received $350, “gardening in the classroom” curriculum and red wiggler worms from Iowa Department of Ag and Land Stewardship.  The students were so excited about the worms! I delivered the worms last week and they are now the classroom “pets.” I did a lesson today on composting. I explained how composting works, why it’s important and how to properly compost.
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Community Foundation Grant!

North Fayette Community School District (one of my 3 school districts that I work with) recently received the Fayette County Community Foundation Grant. I applied for the grant in January for the “Growing Green Kids” Greenhouse Project (the creative name is courtesy of Emily, my supervisor). I applied for $7,500 and the school received $6,105 to install their new greenhouse! I was thrilled. The grant took so much work- I had multiple meetings with the school district’s superintendent, Mr. Willhite. He and I even went to the West Union Chamber of Commerce and met with the executive director to get his input on the “community involvement” section. Our hard work really paid off- the school is installing the greenhouse after Easter! Continue reading