The Landon Community Garden

The Landon
Community
Garden
The Landon
Community Garden
Story
The program began in fall of 2009.
Led by students, the program evolved
out of their desire to get their hands
dirty and reconnect to the earth.
Students reclaimed several hundred
square yards of land adjacent to the
school’s greenhouse.
Their plan was to cultivate the land in
the fall, put it to rest for the winter,
and begin planting in the spring
growing season of 2010.
The land area adjacent to the
greenhouse was formerly used for the
propagation of wildflowers for
Landon’s Azalea Festival. The
wildflower program shrank over the
years, and the land was slowly
abandoned, left to the natural
processes of succession.
Worm compost from old newspapers and cafeteria scraps
The Landon
Community Garden
Story Continued
The boys decided it was time to
become stewards of the land.
The knew they needed to heal the
split between their thoughts and their
actions.
They wanted to lighten their
footprint on the planet. Realizing this
was an incredible challenge, they
decided that building a garden and
getting community members to grow
some of their own food, was a great
first step.
Vegetables from the garden’s first growing season
Moving Forward
The boys cleared and tilled the earth.
In late November, a truck load of
manure was delivered from a local
farm.
The boys spent the entire day hauling
manure from the truck, spreading it
on the land, and working it into the
soil.
View of the Landon community garden in mid-fall
The Right Tools
The boys held a community tool drive
to fill the small garden shed with tools
and equipment.
The Landon community generously
donated sets of rakes, shovels, and
small hand tools.
The Right Attitude
The boys worked tirelessly to see
their dream of a community garden
come to fruition.
They even built a composting bin and
garden cart out of recycled materials
they found lying around the garden
from bygone days.
Garden cart, hand built by Landon students out of
recycled materials found on site
At Long Last
The boys did their part. They took
care of the land, and now the real
rewards of their newly developed
relationship with the soil was about
to take hold.
The posted a community notice
offering plots of land in the
community garden for the duration of
the growing season.
All ten plots were adopted by Landon
families and faculty.
Unpicked Thai Chili Peppers in the autumn sun
Marigolds Help Keep the Bugs Away
Cherry Tomatoes on the Vine
The Last Eggplant of the Season
The Landon Scarecrow Keeps Watch Over the Community Crops
The Results
The boys learned to be good stewards
of the land, and helped create an
incredibly successful first growing
season.
The boys will put the beds to rest
again this November, looking forward
to the renewal that comes with
spring.
The community garden offers
everyone a place to reconnect with
the land and each other.
Boys learn about the importance of
being good environmental stewards,
and enjoy an opportunity to develop
a deeper relationship with the earth.
Grab a shovel
and join us!