Welcome! This blog follows the building, cultivating, and harvesting of the Lakewood Elementary schoolyard garden in St. Petersburg, Florida. Since January 2009, the Edible Peace Patch Project has been developing innovative community-oriented food system and nutrition educational programs in south St. Petersburg, Florida. Lakewood Elementary is the 1st school to participate in our Garden Education Program!

Edible Peace Patch Blogs

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Adventures of Soil and Horse Manure

Today was a beautiful and ultra-productive day! There was a breeze and a slight coolness in the air. Thanks to the efforts of Amy and Alex, both of whom started their volunteer shifts an hour early today, The Edible Schoolyard now has a truck load of excellent horse manure. Despite the stench of it all, our crew managed to shovel the manure in a large pile next to the fence and the pineapples towards the back of the garden. Now it is ready to mixed with soil to be placed in the recently dug trench that surrounds the garden. All in all, this is one of the more exciting developments that has taken place this week!

In addition to the acquisition of good horse manure, Amy managed to contact Lowe's and asked for donations of soil. Being the good organization they are, Lowe's decided to donate 15 bags of soil to our cause. So, a special thanks to Lowe's for giving to a really good cause! After we were given the go, a couple of us drove to Lowe's in the good old Eckerd College recycling truck. As I expected, the truck was creaking and rattling the entire time we were on the highway. But, we made it safely there to pick up the soil for the garden. It was incredibly heavy because it was saturated with water. So, a couple of bags have slight tears in them, but no soil was lost. Actually, we managed to get a high quality all-organic soil, despite the fact it was a donation.

Finally, we unloaded the soil in the garden and the shed when we got back after another interesting ride. Then we cleaned up and called it a day!

Related Links

About The Edible Peace Patch

is one of two schoolyard gardens run by The Edible Peace Patch Project in St. Petersburg, Florida. This project was developed to set a standard for experiential education as well as provide valuable mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students in St. Petersburg, and to provide academic support and collaborative experiential learning to students in south Pinellas County.