[Community_garden] Gardening again takes root at Blandford (Grand Rapids, MI)

[Lisa Rose Starner]

Gardening again takes root at Blandford 


Wednesday, March 07, 2007 

By John Hogan

The Grand Rapids Press 

GRAND RAPIDS -- After 40 years of teaching kids about nature and maple
syrup, Blandford Nature Center is planting the seeds for a new era of
hands-on learning: school vegetable gardening.   Blandford plans to merge
with Mixed Greens, a nonprofit organization that brings vegetable gardens to
urban schools. 

The planned merger marks several changes for Blandford: a new executive
director, incorporation as a nonprofit organization and restoration of
Blandford's once popular vegetable gardens.  Grand Rapids Public Schools
operates Blandford's programs, and the City of Grand Rapids owns the land.
Both still need to sign off on the deal so Blandford can seek status as a
nonprofit organization. The merger, expected to be approved before June,
would maintain city ownership and turn over management to the new nonprofit.


"The youthfulness of Mixed Greens is needed to renew the nature center,"
said Lisa Rose Starner, founder of Mixed Greens, who has been appointed
Blandford's executive director. "The place needs to have life breathed back
into it."   Starner's contract to head Blandford was approved by the school
board in February. 

The merger is part of a long-term plan to reverse the fortunes of Blandford,
which two years ago closed on Sundays for the first time in 30 years.
Staffing has been cut, and its popular Maple Syrup Festival was cut from
four weekends to two.   There is a sentimental tug as well: Vegetable
gardens will return to Blandford Nature Center after a 20-year absence. 

"In many ways it's kind of back to the future," said Bert Bleke, chair of
the Blandford advisory committee. 

Having vegetable gardens on the 143-acre site, 1715 Hillburn Ave. NW, will
be a boon for Blandford's educational mission, said Mary Jane Dockeray,
Blandford's founder. Blandford started with 10 acres in 1964 and was
operated by the Public Museum of Grand Rapids before the school system took
it over three years ago.   “Too many kids are confined to a computer screen,
a TV screen," Dockeray said. "We want to teach people to get back on the
land." 

Dockeray says she believes Starner is the right person to lead Blandford,
which has an operating budget of $350,000 for the current fiscal year
financed by donations, school support and contributions from the Wege
Foundation.   "We need a manager, and now we have someone who can put it all
together," said Dockeray, who served as its director for 22 years. Dockeray
remains on the Blandford advisory board. 

The changes culminate six months of work started by Bleke and finished by
his successor, Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Bernard
Taylor.   Blandford provides environmental education to students in third,
sixth and ninth grades, and hosts Blandford Nature School, the district's
sixth-grade specialty school. About 40,000 visitors, mostly area school
children, visit Blandford each year. 

Starner said that over the past several months, Blandford and Mixed Greens
realized they share the same fundamental values rooted in outdoor,
experimental learning.   "Learning by doing, with the natural environment as
the outdoor classroom, instills curiosity, develops teamwork, promotes
self-reliance and creates relationships -- human to human, human to nature,
and human to society," Starner said. 

Mixed Greens got its start three years ago to support and encourage students
to eat fresh foods, especially food they've grown themselves. It oversees
vegetable gardens at six public schools in Wyoming and Grand Rapids, but
plans to expand to 24 schools by 2010, Starner said. 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Rose Starner, MPA

Executive Director

Blandford Nature Center      Mixed Greens 

1715 Hillburn NW             1444 Lake Dr.SE

Grand Rapids MI 49504        GR MI 49506


                                            

BNC (o) 616.819.5541

MG (o) 616.301.3592

Most likely to get me (c) 616.240.6480 

lisa.rose at mixedgreens.org

 


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