Children from the Evergreen Colorado community ages 7 to 17 will be involved in all aspects of greenhouse gardening in a 500 square foot solar greenhouse designed and constructed specifically and solely for Global Children’s Gardens. Every child is welcome to participate in programs, classes, and activities with enthusiasm and without fees.
Instruction and guidance will be provided by volunteer teachers and master gardeners from the community. Activities begin in February with the planting of seeds in the grow racks and preparation of the garden beds. Be sure to check our calendar of Events for more information.
The children are involved in garden management including composting, soil preparation, water management, pest recognition and mitigation, vermiculture, thinning and transplanting of seedlings, temperature control and harvesting of both flowers and vegetables. Emphasis is placed on hands-on experiential greenhouse horticulture, which will lead, naturally to enhanced nutritional awareness and improved eating practices.
Workshops:
- Flower pot painting and planting workshops
- Fantasy Garden creation workshop
- Composting workshop
- School field trip & workshops
- Worm Farm workshop
- Fairy Garden workshop
- Seed harvesting workshop
Special Events:
- Family forest hikes and greenhouse tours.
- Weekend brunches and greenhouse tours.
- Community BBQ and forest hike.
- Fresh vegetable and herb harvest celebration.
The Evergreen chapter of Global Children’s Gardens has a booth at the Evergreen, Colorado and Aspen Park, Colorado Farmer’s Markets, twice weekly from April through October.
Flowers, produce and fresh herbs cultivated by the children will be available for sale.
The activity is organized to teach the children business and entrepreneurial skills in a real market place, and to cultivate an attitude of contribution.
Revenue generated by the harvest and sale of greenhouse products will be used philanthropically to help another children’s organization construct and operate a similar greenhouse. That children’s gardening organization will then be challenged to "Pay it Forward" by helping yet another Global Children’s Garden group to similarly construct and operate a greenhouse. And so the process continues from community to community.
Twice yearly, Global Children’s Gardens will present a community celebration fund raising and awareness raising event. Events will be conceived of, developed and hosted by the local children’s gardening group. Funds will benefit the granting component of Global Children’s Gardens as well as providing educational and charitable opportunities for the children involved.
Five Seeds – A Story of Abundance
(Seeds of Promise)
The spring was to be the first season for planting in Gebo - Evergreen’s childrens greenhouse and Global Children’s Gardens first project. Students from the Montessori middle school came to visit, bearing hundreds of tiny plants they had started from seeds, to transplant into the labyrinth growing beds inside Gebo. Among the many were five plants that had lost their tags and were unidentifiable. The kids chose a spot to plant the mysterious five and then nature’s magic took over.
All five plants thrived through the summer and in the fall matured into impressive vines climbing nearly to Gebo’s sixteen foot peak. They displayed hundreds of beautiful, multi-colored, Morning Glory blossoms. Wow! We were collectively “blown away” by their abundant stunning colors.
But that was not nearly the end of the story. As autumn approached, hundreds of seed pods began to appear on the vines. The children and I were astonished by the intricate structure of each pod and how it protectively encased 4 or 5 seeds. We appreciated the design but thought no more upon it as we didn’t fully recognize the incredible potential each pod contained.
The inspiring story of the original five mystery seedlings might have been forgotten, if not for nature’s unexpected and exponentially expanded Morning Glory show the following year. In the spring the children began preparing the garden beds by removing the dead plants for composting. Through this task, they inadvertently dispersed Morning Glory seeds throughout the greenhouse beds. This resulted in a surprising and delightfully beautiful Morning Glory show of blossoms in the summer. And if that wasn’t sufficient, autumn provided seemingly zillions of seeds.
Nature’s lesson of abundance inspired us to appreciate the unexpected bounty and beauty around us and challenged to us be active and aware stewards of our natural world. Along with our challenge came an opportunity to spread the dream and experience of Global Children’s Gardens. To fulfill this goal we wanted to fund future greenhouses and gardens projects internationally through the gift of our original Morning Glory seeds. Thus we are proud to introduce to you:
Seeds of Promise,
Planting Gardens of Hope,
Growing gardens globally, one community at a time.
Gebo's Childrens Garden Parties
We offer Gebo's beautiful environment for children's parties during the summer (May - August). It is the ideal location for a garden theme birthday parties or special celebrations! The party/celebration will be led by a staff member and will include activities such as hiking, treasure hunting and so on.
To get more information on this service, please email me with your questions and we will contact you to coordinate the special event.
High School:
Our high school internship is a flexible program with diverse opportunities for youth 14 – 18 to participate in many Global Children’s Gardens projects, programs and events. These opportunities include the community greenhouse to international projects. All thoughtful, energetic students are invited to connect with GCG as a:
- Middle school mentor
- Elementary group leader
- Pre-school garden partner
- Events organizer
- Greenhouse caretaker
- Community to community liaison
- Outreach publicist
- Farmers market staff
- Geodesic dome builder
Middle School:
Our middle school internship centers around our Summer workshops. Middle school age youths are given the opportunity to spend time in the greenhouse to explore the magic and wonders of natural gardening. Students participate in the greenhouse horticultural program with hands-on experience. The program has flexible scheduling to accommodate busy families.
Send us an e-email for more information.
