A Mountain Valley School Project
Mission Statement: 
""To create a self-sustaining garden and greenhouse that will provide organic produce year-round, physical exercise, educational opportunities, and a deeper connection with the earth for students, parents and community members while instilling a greater sense of achievement in our school and our selves."
Thank you
for supporting the Saguache Community Garden
Gardening Year ‘Round
Most folks think that after a garden gets “put-to-bed”, there’s many months of rest before the ground thaws and planting begins again. Not so with the Saguache Community Garden. This project is year ‘round and the director, Leigh Mills, is as busy as ever. The community garden is a project of the Mountain Valley School and has as one of its goals the incorporation of the garden into the daily curriculum.
While laying the foundation for strong community support and building the garden infrastructure, the director and garden members worked with several teachers and the superintendent to create an outline of curricular needs. With funds granted by the Colorado Garden and Home Show, many books were purchased which the director, teachers, and garden members use to guide them through specific gardening related lessons and activities. These same funds also allowed for the purchase enough grow light sets and accessories to outfit the pre-K – 5th grade classes so they may experience the excitement of growing year ‘round.
Specific activities that have happened since the beginning of the school year include a “salsa garden” being grown in the 7th grade class, “Secret Garden” flower seedlings started, soil exploration, seed sorting, and recording observations in garden journals in the 1st, 4th, and 7th grades, and a worm farm in kindergarten. The director spent the first weeks of the 2010 developing a schedule with the teachers and is looking forward to engaging garden members to guide future activities as the season progresses and get them ready for May, when they will be planting in their own outside beds.
The Saguache Community Garden is also partners with the County Library and together they will be hosting another 8 weeks of summer reading/gardening program once school is out. Each week, a different topic will be covered that students will read about, make crafts, and explore in the outside garden world. As this program winds down, the harvest season wind up, and the full cycle of growing continues when school starts.
The Saguache Community Garden is a project of the Mountain Valley School and their motto is “Growing Seeds, Minds, and Connections”. For more information about the garden project, please contact Leigh Mills at alchemy9@hughes.net or 655-2011.
Seed Give-Away A Success!!
The First Annual Seed Give-Away that happened on Friday, February 26, was a phenomenal success! The Library was overrun with eager community members who came to receive free seeds, black growing containers, garden amendment, peruse the new gardening books, and network with other neighbors and valley residents.
Folks were very patient as Leigh filled the orders and seeing her need for help, other folks stepped in and assisted her by helping folks fill out the membership/seed list, the actual seed orders, and all the other little tasks that make up a successful event. “Thank You”, to everyone who stepped in to help out and for the donations the garden project received!!!
The Saguache Community Garden Project gave away almost 400 packages of seeds to approximately 60 people! Many of the recipients signed up to become working members and others to receive the email garden updates. All were very happy with their free seeds and look forward to when they can plant them in the community garden or their own.
The Garden Project is expecting another 200 packages of seeds any day and will be hosting an “Encore” to the seed give-away as soon as possible.
The Saguache Community Garden is a project of the Mountain Valley School and our motto is: “Growing Seeds, Minds, and Connections”.
If you would like more information, please contact the director, Leigh Mills at alchemy9@hughes.net or 719-655-2011.
Library Receives Gardening Books
The leaves have fallen from most of the trees, the days are getting very short, and winter will be upon us soon. The shorter, darker days can seem to be gloomy for people who like to garden outdoors and enjoy the warmer weather. However, with the addition of many new gardening books at the Saguache County Library, you can pass your winter months reading about organic and alternative gardening methods and start planning next year’s garden by the turn of the new year.
With grant funds received from Colorado Garden and Home Show, the Saguache Community Garden purchased 29 brand new books and donated them to the County Library. These books cover wide gardening topics such as soil preparation, starting seeds, permaculture techniques, and square foot gardening along with other topics like organic weed and insect control, 4 season harvesting, vermiculture, food preservation and root cellar designs. There are enough new books to occupy all the long, cold, winter months and make the time zoom by. books have been incorporated into the general gardening and food preparation section in the Saguache County Library. Just ask Carla or Penny which ones are new and start working your way through the collection.
The Saguache Community Garden is a project of the Mountain Valley School and our motto is: “Growing Seeds, Minds, and Connections”. The director, Leigh Mills, is always available to answer any questions about the project and sign up any new members. She can be reached at: alchemy9@hughes.net or 655-2011.
The Garden is Growing
By Kaitlyn Hazard
Leigh Mills, the public face of our very own community garden, was interviewed by Smoke Signals on September 9th. She had a lot to say about how ideas of the garden got started up; it all started two and a half years ago, but the actual garden didn’t get established until June of 2009. “The president of our school board, Liza Marron, was a huge help getting grants and supporting our ideas,” says Leigh. Even though those grants were realized, Leigh said there was a HUGE problem: no one was running the operation, so she took matters into her own hands. Leigh now works several hours a week, making the garden beautiful and functional for the community and the school.
The preschool all the way through the elementary are really getting involved in this project. Even the seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Skadberg, is planting seeds in the middle school soil.
The garden has been getting support from the people in the community and the younger grades in our school, although, Leigh is interested in getting some of the high school kids involved as well. When asked about how they could help out, she says, “It’s good for the spirit. You really get in touch with yourself. The Moffat High School, (girls), volleyball team even came over on the 8th of September and they helped out for about an hour. They made more progress than I could’ve ever made on my own!”
Ms. Leigh added, “The motto of the garden is: ‘Growing Seeds, Minds, and Connections’. It’s more than just a garden, it’s deeper than that. It’s about learning how to grow food and supplies for yourself. You can’t always depend on the packaged good to be plentiful or available.”
Garden News:
Saguache Community Garden News
Happy New Year! May everyone be blessed with good health, good friends and community, abundance in all beneficial things, and a loving family.
The Saguache Community Garden continues to be blessed with financial abundance as we found out this past December. The project has received notice of grant awards from two foundations. The Colorado Garden Show, Inc. has awarded the garden with a generous grant that will be used toward education materials and adding more infrastructure to the large, outside garden. More details on this award will be coming in the following months.
The second award will be coming in January and is from the Colorado Health Foundation. The garden will be receiving funds, ($700.00), that will allow the purchase of a very large, two-sided compost tumbler. This tumbler will compost organic materials much faster than the cold-pile method currently being used in the garden. Students of all sizes and garden members will find this tumbler very easy to use and fun, too!
Thank you very much, Colorado Garden Show, Inc. and the Colorado Health Foundation for your generous grant funding for our garden!
The year of 2009 was wonderful and productive for the community garden; 2010 will be even better! This success is attributable to the continued support of you, the community member, and for it, the garden is eternally grateful. Thank you!
The Saguache Community Garden is a project of the Mountain Valley School and our motto is: “Growing Seeds, Minds, and Connections”. The garden project is entirely funded through grant awards and donations from organizations like LiveWell, SLV and the Mountain Valley School. If you would like more info, please contact the director, Leigh Mills, at: alchemy9@hughes.net or 655-2011.
