How to build a school garden.

Hello dear readers. Did you miss me? I have been a busy bee these past three weeks. For the last two years I've been planning and fundraising to build a school garden at an underserved Title 1 school in Dallas. It has been both an arduous and an exhilarating process and one that came to fruition this week. I've had no time for writing or blogging because I've been project manager on a school garden construction site. But I didn't do it alone, of course. I enlisted (and sometimes begged) for support from businesses, neighbors, school officials and friends. And they got on board in a big way. I'm filled with gratitude for those who made this school garden possible.

This weekend saw the official ground breaking. All of the hard work paid off and the garden, which serves 800 students and 90 staff members, is open. How did we do it? Here's a little photo line-up that tells our story.

Identify your space...

Dream on paper and make a plan and a budget... 

Find a fabulous local landscape architect to help you... 

Drafting by Curtis Scoggins.

Hit the streets for community partnerships and funding... 

Form a committee of awesome people to do the focused jobs...

Advertise the school garden and talk it up...

Design a poster and ask a local business to cover printing costs...

Once the district approves your plan, lay out your garden...

Seek press opportunities and say YES to press inquiries...

From The Advocate Magazine - April 2016

Enlist your school art teacher to create a mural with students...

Host work days and create neighborhood partnerships... 

Invite the kids to help...

Borrow tools from friends if you don't have your own...

Work with handy parents who know how to build stuff...

Secure your rain water collection system...

Revel in the moments when it all comes together...

Stand in awe of your school art teacher's work...

Artist Emily Ash

Artist Emily Ash

Work with fabulous Girl Scout Troops...

Build a beautiful fence to protect what you've created...

Ask for seed donations...

And ask for transplant donations...

Host a Glove & Shovel Drive to supply your tool shed...

Clean up your construction site and get ready to break ground...

Break ground and invite EVERYONE...

Then invite the press back to your launch party...

All photos below are from The Advocate Magazine.

This has been such a fulfilling process.

Thank you to everyone who had a hand in making the Skyview Harmony Garden possible.

Interested in knowing more?

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Bunking Up

Well, it's happened. Charlie has definitely outgrown his crib. It's time to move on. Since my boys share a room, we're looking into bunk beds. I love the twin over full size bunks. Charlie is a big kid and we need to be able to get in bed with him for changing clothes, diapers and getting into his leg and arm braces. So I'm leaning towards something like you see in the bottom two photos.

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A Nursery for Davis

Last week on Houzz, I published an article about the Graddy Family and their beautiful newborn son, Davis. You can check out all of the photos and read the full article HERE at Houzz.com. Until then, here is a quick excerpt from the article:

In fall 2014, Stephen and Kellie Graddy found out that they were expecting a second boy. They also learned that he would be born with spina bifida — a neural tube defect in which the spinal column does not close completely. During the next few months, the Graddys followed their hearts and planned for the birth of baby Davis. “Sometimes the second kid gets a little left out, so we wanted a special place for Davis to land when he arrived,” says Kellie.

To read the full article and see all of the photos, click HERE.