Besides caring for Dearly Demented Mom, I believe in giving back to the community. In my spare (yeah, right) time, I volunteer at the Medina Garden Patch. This learning garden, sponsored by the Rose Garden Club of Medina, was created last fall by a great group of women who had a vision and not enough sense to listen to those that said it couldn’t be done.

The goal? To teach 5th & 6th graders how to garden. Our fearless Master Gardener and teacher extraordinaire, Carol Hagemeier, teaches the children to the Junior Master Gardener curriculum. After a two year successful completion of the program, each child will earn a Junior Master Gardner certificate. It is a fantastic program. For more information, please visit http://www.jmgkids.us/

First let’s see how it all began.

Before you can build a garden…

…you have to have a piece of land. This was ours up at the Medina ISD. We added beautiful stone beds, built by Cecil and Tony LeStourgeon, a fence, mulch, dirt, cattle panels and kids and we had a garden! (I know, I make it sound easy – but it was a lot of hard work!)

We had both a fall and spring garden and two weeks ago, it was the final harvest before school was out. I thought you’d enjoy seeing the garden plus some of the kids and adults that helped with this fantastic venture.

This is our handmade sign

This beautiful mosaic was created by Ronnie Wilson. She’s on the Green Team and quite the artist. There are four teams: 5th grade is divided into the Green and Red teams; 6th grade is divided into Blue and Gold. We have four team leaders that help control the garden madness. We also had a contest to name the garden and this was the name that won – the Medina Garden Patch.

The Garden Patch beds

We have four 48 ft beds, divided into sections so each child has a 2 X 8 plot of land to garden in. Each child has a wooden sign with their name on it to mark their plot.

Brady who was the winner of the “Name the Garden” contest

Brady says he came up with that name because his 93-year-old great grandfather always told him, “All you need is a little patch of land to have a garden.” We agree, Brady!

The Beautiful Ladies of the Green Team

It takes hard work and time to volunteer. Luckily, we have many people that have supported the Medina Garden Patch with time, money and donations of every kind. Even though we’re in a very small town, we are a mighty force. 

Mason harvesting his beets

He’s on my team and he has a big garden at home, so I don’t have to tell him what to do in the Garden Patch. He’s been trained by his Mom.

This is Lee

He was bored because he wanted school to be out. He’s the son of my Webmaster, Tammy. She’s not a gardener, but her husband and Lee’s father has a PhD in growing stuff.

After the kids harvested what they wanted, we gather up the rest of the vegetables to be delivered to the Silver Sage – a Seniors Center in Bandera. That way the kids can help the county out with fresh vegetables.

Now if you don’t believe these kids are into gardening, just look at this sign

After the kids finished harvesting, we still spent time with them. Find out what we did next. Just tune in tomorrow.

Spreading laughter throughout the world…one chuckle at a time. Pray for DDM.

Mikie Baker
www.mikiebaker.com