Changes Afoot at Joyful Garden

Dear Friends,

It is with many powerful feelings that I am writing to let you know that the school year ending at the end of July, 2014, will be the final year that I operate Joyful Garden as we have known it for the past six years. I am currently working toward transitioning into teaching elementary age kids, and plan eventually to pursue an advanced degree in education or counseling. I aspire to transform Joyful Garden into a summer day camp for kids, and a resource for parents wanting to learn and practice new parenting skills--quite probably years from now.

The span of time that I have spent immersed in the work of creating a community for young children at Joyful Garden has been a particularly sweet season of my life. I am grateful for the time spent with the children every day, for the world that they share with me, and for all that they teach. My thanks to the families who entrust their children to me, and who contribute so generously to the Community’s betterment, are boundless.

I also owe a great debt of gratitude to family and friends who have supported my vision, and the execution of it, in creating Joyful Garden. My daughter, India, has given up personal space for, and shared her mom with, younger children for ten years now. My grownup family, and many other loved ones, have strategized, and planned, and sweated alongside me to mold the Joyful Garden property according to my ideas and ideals. Anyone who has done the smallest thing to support the effort to realize my vision for Joyful Garden has my undying thanks.

Joyful Garden will continue on its regular schedule through the end of its calendar year, in July. Most of our kiddos are poised to age out and move to new schools in August 2014. If you would like advice or assistance in identifying the best school for your child’s next phase, please contact me. I am happy to be of assistance.

Each day, each passing week, is more tender, and more treasured, now that I know it is the last such that I will savor with the children; these children. I am more fully present than ever as I welcome them through the gate each morning and pull up a tree stump to sit in on their world. It is a beautiful world. Thank you.

I wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons.

With love, respect, and boundless gratitude,

Katherine Patton, Founder and Guide

First Day Back, August 13, 2013

What a beautiful day we had at Joyful Garden! We welcomed Catalina to her first regular session, and she was a trooper! All in all it was a peaceful, focused, hard working, and hard playing day here at the JG.

While the children played, they learned about their senses: the taste, feel, smell, look of things; they strengthened their muscles: pushing, pulling, walking, running, scooping, lifting; they refined fine motor skills: placing, dressing, undressing, putting on and fastening shoes, stacking, connecting, turning pages; they learned social skills: asking permission before hugging, touching, or disturbing someone's activity; they expressed curiosity and empathy: coming to see what was wrong when they heard a friend cry; they classified the objects around them: food/not food, things we throw/things best not thrown, things that go, things that stack, things that fit in this puzzle board...

Catalina explores mulch.

Choosing our own work; some work together. 

Building.

Cash climbing up.

And standing.

Some lap time.

“We are barefoot together, Katherine!”

Coming back from visiting the chickens.

Working. Playing.

Gorgeous lunches! And gorgeous lunchers!

This week, Joyful Garden welcomes Beckett, Catalina, Edie, and Ellis, our brand-new members! I can’t wait to greet all our members, new and old, after our lengthy break.

Here are my thoughts on transitioning smoothly into the school year.

Lots of rest. Well-rested children are less anxious about transitions, and more able to adapt to the new setting and routines at Community. If your child is not sleepy when you decide it is bed-time, try an earlier time. Sometimes, we are just missing the open window for sleep!

Ample time. Get up early enough that you and kiddo do not have to rush and can enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Get started with tooth-brushing, shoe-finding, and other “out-the-door” routines five or ten minutes earlier than you think is necessary. Use these last moments at home to really focus on the tasks you are doing together, and to connect with your child.

Protein for breakfast. Protein will fuel your child through a morning that can seem very long, until they get to crack open those beautiful, new lunch boxes/tins. If your child dislikes eggs and other traditional high-protein breakfast items, try serving them a bit of last nights leftover supper, some cold cuts, cheese sticks...

Pause for a moment. When you arrive at Community, take a moment to come into the playground with your child, set his or her bag down on the wooden steps, engage in some play. They want to share their experience with you!

Goodbye routine. You have thought about a goodbye routine--that phrase you will use to let your child know that you are going to go now, then the final thing done together (sing a short verse of a song, gate kiss...). Then you leave. If your child is expressing strong emotions, it is due to the distress of the transition--that moment when you are neither here nor gone, but going. When you linger, you prolong that state of limbo, and your child will respond accordingly. When you go, your child has an opportunity to re-center in his or her new state of “here without my parent.” And, if he or she does not re-center, please rest assured that I will call you.

Our pre-visits all went so beautifully; I think our group is well on the road to adapting to time at Joyful Garden in which they will work and play happily, and thrive. One thing to be aware of: sometimes the third or fourth time a child comes to Community is much, much harder for them than the first or second time. Perhaps a child feels that coming to Community was fine, as a lark, but now that she sees that you mean this to be a regular thing, they have something to say about giving up the time at home with parents... In any case, I hope that being forewarned of this possibility will assist you in accepting your child’s feelings and behavior, and walking through the gate with confidence that his or her needs will be met, in that moment, and every moment that she or he is at Joyful Garden.

Action-Packed Weeks!

Time has flown by so quickly since the school year started on September 27! It seems as though October is staring us in the face already. So much has taken place here at Joyful Garden.

We  welcomed new friends: Cole, Phoenix, and Salvador, and their families. Well, we already knew Phoenix’s family; he is Hudson's younger brother.

C. gets to know Banana, the bantam rooster.

We welcomed 26 baby chicks to our classroom.

P. explains the finer points of chick care.

We started a new routine of feeding the chickens every morning. The children scoop feed into a bucket, and I take it into the chicken pen and pour it into the feeders. The children look with their eyes while I do this.

Observing the bantam chickens from scrap lumber benches.

T. scoops feed.

We know it is time to leave the farm and go to the playground when we board the Playground Train. "Chooga chooga chooga..."

We have sprouted seeds to plant in the fall garden.

Lettuce, cabbage, herb, and flower sprouts.

And, we’ve had lots of hours of focused work indoors.

L. introduces the doll baby to Daisy.

H. and P. at work.

Finally, we have had the incredibly good fortune of having a tree fall down on the farm. I know you are wondering: how could this be good fortune? Oh, in so many ways!

Fallen hackberry.

1) It was a hackberry.
2) It was blocking the morning sun from the chicken pen turned garden bed.
3) It fell perfectly, without touching the chicken pen, chicken coop, fence, or even the shade bed.
4)It is now a certainty that this is the year that our first Hugelkultur will be installed!

What’s Hugelkultur, you ask? Here are some links that explain it all for you:
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
http://www.nwedible.com/2012/03/half-ass-hugelkultur.html

This is what we will be installing on our work day, October 20. Clear your calendar!

Why hugelkultur? It will create a natural retaining wall for soil and rain water that tend to flow down the slope from the back of the farm to the front. It will absorb rainwater and deliver it to the plants that live in the hugelkultur. It will be a natural raised bed that nourishes the plants it hosts as the trees that make its foundation break down. It's the perfect place to mix butterfly and bee-attracting natives, along with the peach tree that was given to us a year ago (and has been living in a pot ever since), and some food plants.

Here's the rub: after assessing all the materials needed to build a hugelkultur, I determined that Joyful Garden's budget could not accommodate its construction this year. And yet, the tree was ready, and delivered itself to us... Enrolled and alumni families: it and Joyful Garden need your help.

Materials needed:
1) A couple yards of dirt; doesn’t have to be great garden soil, as so many nutrient-rich materials go into the base of the hugelkulture. Who can haunt Craigs List Free Stuff for garden or fill dirt, and mobilize those with pickup trucks to go pick it up? Alternatively, who is very persuasive and could talk one or more of the local garden supply places (Whittlesey, Natural Gardener, Geo Growers, even Lowe’s and Home Depot) to solicit donations or discounted dirt? Another alternative: can anyone afford to be generous and contribute to purchasing this material.
2) Chainsaws and the know-how to use them safely. We have a standard-sized one, and a bitty one. This work will take place on the 20th, before children are present.
3) Wheelbarrows, shovels, and strong backs. Here at Joyful Garden on the 20th.
4) Mulch. I will try to get a free delivery from city contractors. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask about this when talking to garden suppliers.

So, if you have the power of persuasion, please step up. We’ll divide up the local suppliers amongst those who can charm the dirt right out of the garden center. Those with pickup trucks, give us an idea of your general availability, because the free stuff on Craig’s List can go fast and is first come, first served. Let me know if you have a chainsaw to bring on the 20th (protective eyewear and clothing is mandatory, of course). And, please plan to be here on October 20th to make magic!

Thank you so much!

Talking to Young Children About Violence--DON'T

A horribly violent armed attack occurred in Colorado overnight. Parents of young children are going to see and hear a lot of references to resources for talking to kids about what happened. Here is an example, from a source that I trust: http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1358574/resources-for-talking-to-kids-about-colorado-shootings.

My advice to you about talking to your young children (under the age of six) about things like this is: DON'T DO IT. These resource lists and pearls of wisdom are meant for parents of children older than yours. Your young and tender children need and deserve to be protected from the information that such things can even happen. Please follow these guidelines about shielding your young children from news of violence, war and mayhem:
--Protect them from all mention of senseless and random acts of violence. They are unable to process this information, and have no context for the language and imagery that surrounds it. Being exposed to it only breeds disregulation in a young child.
--Obtain your news and media fix when you are absolutely certain that your child(ren) can not see or hear.
--Inform other adults in their world--ahead of time, and out of eye- and ear-shot of your child--that you can not discuss these events in front of your child(ren).

People may say about infants and young children, "They can't understand what we are talking about!" You would be surprised at the early age at which children achieve 100% listening comprehension. And, even if they don't understand every word, they are taking in our tone, our body language, our expressions. Watch the face of a young child as he or she is exposed to intense language about something s/he "doesn't understand" sometime; you will see a change take place there.

Preserve their innocence. Doing so insulates their sense of security and well-being, and provides the groundwork for a mentally healthy outlook. When they come home from school a few years from now, asking about "...that person who killed all those people," or "...the flood where people died," or whatever, that's when you'll need to pull out the list of resources referenced above. For now, shield them from news of this violence as you would from violent acts.

Week of June 11

We have had an awesome, awesome week! Kiddos are really hitting their strides; every day I see growth and change.

Here are some pictures from the week; not as many or as varied as I would like.

Thank you all for sharing your awesome kiddos with me!

Photo backlog revealed!

As promised, here is the first set in a string of backlogged photographs, taken since January 2102, at Joyful Garden. Captions below each one.

 

India reading to the children.

 Alina and Hudson working together.

 Deep in work.

 To each his own.

 Nursing a sick chicken.

 Sandpaper letters.

 Demonstration.

 Writing.

 All together now.

 Enjoyment.

 Attainment.

 No waste here.

Cozy seating.

 Motion.

 Socializing.

 Exploration.

 Sprouting.

 Water colors.

 Meaningful work.

 Sprouts.

Watcha readin'?