Gateway’s Community Garden is the proud recipient of a $3,950 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant from the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. The grant will support the creation of a new outdoor performance area in the garden and provide materials for a hothouse planter box.
The garden broke ground in the spring of 2014 and has grown exponentially since then. The new performance area and hot-house planter box will create even more opportunities for student learning and connection between our school and the broader community, both locally and globally.
Construction of the hothouse planter box, which is a large protected planter made from rot-resistant redwood and reclaimed home windows, was completed over the summer by the Garden's Program Director, Justin Berthiaume, and TruFabricator.
According to Berthiaume, “the hothouse will shelter the garden’s seedlings from chilly, windy San Francisco and protect them from the critters that enjoy feasting on the garden’s home-grown produce.”
Through hands-on projects like tending to the seedlings in the hothouse, students learn skills of natural building, regenerative design, and plant propagation.
Construction of the outdoor performance area began Saturday, October 13th during the Garden’s Dig Day with help from the Garden Club, community volunteers, and students participating in Gateway’s gardening class.
The performance area will be used to bring the Gateway community and larger community together for music, drama, film, and other school events. “The performance area will evolve depending on the needs and wants of our community,” says Berthiaume. “The space is meant to be flexible and we hope to host events ranging from a guest lecture series to dance performances.”
Gateway’s Community Garden advances Gateway’s commitment to building connections between what happens in the classroom and in the real world, shaping students' creativity, adaptability, and resiliency, and expanding our science and environmental education curriculum.
The garden serves as an outdoor classroom and living laboratory where students can design, learn, and grow as leaders and stewards.
