Thompson Garden | Friendship Gardens Charlotte

A great first season of learning for the children

Nov. 18, 2011

By LAURA DOBSON

Garden Leader

The raised beds at Thompson Child Development Center on Clanton Road are showing signs of fall.

Only cold-weather crops look fresh and crisp – the peas are just coming on; the arugula, lettuce, kale, collards and cabbage are growing like crazy.

Just a couple weeks ago, flowers were still blooming on the okra and a red tomato could still be seen peeking out from under green leaves. Now the leaves are mostly yellow, and only hard, green tomatoes remain.

The Thompson garden not only grew produce for Friendship Trays, and for some school snacks, but it served as a teaching tool.

Danyelle Berguron-Rumfelt, vice president of Early Childhood Services at the Center, said the garden taught the children, as well as the teachers, many lessons.

“We learned patience ... waiting for things to sprout and grow ... waiting for things to produce real veggies!” Danyelle said. “We loved planting so many different plants and learning about how they grew and why.”

The kids learned basic things such as how the vegetables grew better if they had enough water, and sun, and learned how their food grows, and where it comes from.

One of the favorite crops earlier in the season was the carrots. Led by their teachers, a group of 3- and 4-year-old children gathered around the raised bed, gazing at the green fronds of the carrots waving in the summer breeze.

The kids knew they had come outside to pick carrots, but weren’t quite sure where they were going to find those carrots. The surprise on their faces when they pulled on the greens and out popped a fully grown carrot 6 to 8 inches long was priceless.

As soon as one child pulled his carrot, even the shy children wanted to give the fronds a tug and pull out their own carrot.

Thompson plans to remain a Friendship Garden next year; Danyelle wants the children to have more experiences such as these.

“After having so much success with carrots, we are excited to really do more with our spring gardens,” Danyelle said. “We also had great success with sunflowers, bell peppers and okra. We look forward to having even larger crops and trying to grow different things next year.”

At the Center’s annual harvest feast, the parents were able to share in the excitement of the garden as well. Perhaps the most successful crop this year was the lettuce. It grew like a weed, forming beautiful, perfect heads and growing so large the soil and the wood encasing the raised beds was barely visible.

The parents were sent home with a head of lettuce, and a sense of what their children are learning by being a part of Friendship Gardens.

Friendship Gardens Charlotte
Creating local, renewable nutritious food resources for meals-on-wheels recipients
An Initiative of Slow Food Charlotte and Friendship Trays, Inc.

Friendship Trays, 2401-A Distribution St. Charlotte, NC 28203 voice 704-333-9229 fax 704-333-5947
Meals-on-wheels in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC
Delivering, in a caring and friendly manner, balanced meals to individuals in this community
who are unable, because of age or infirmity, to obtain and prepare their own meal
Friendship Trays is a 501(c)(3) organization. Employer ID #56-1201496. Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license
are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-807-2000. The license is not an endorsement by the State.