The Bryher Patch/Youth Garden, which closed this month, has been a place where kids dug in the dirt and ate their vegetables (and sometimes worms) that they grew. This project’s goal was to teach kids about real food. The Youth Garden has been a project of our 21st Century Community Learning Center, our community after-school program at Boulder Elementary School. Although we are sad about the end of an era gardening on Main Street, we appreciate the years that we have been able to use the space to teach our kids.
Dean Grenz and I started gardening with kids in about 2003, in Mr. Smiley’s yard (to the east of the ambulance barn). We designed this as a service project. There are so many stories that I want to portray in this deep thought of gratitude to all those that helped a hand with the project over the years. I hope that I can portray how amazing our community is.
A special thank you needs to be given to the owners that donated the space for so long. Originally, Bryher Herak donated the space, and we named it the Bryher Patch. She started donating the space in 2004. When she sold it in 2011, Greg Hughes, owner of Boulder River Pizza and Subs, continued donating our garden area for another 10 years!
The time that we spent in the garden with the after-school program, the school-day classes and for the students in Intermountain were so special. We cannot thank you enough for the space; our hearts will always have fond memories of the experiences it provided. For so many years, we had this space to teach kids about gardening. What a gift,. We will continue our gardening program at Boulder Elementary School where we have a greenhouse and raised beds. In addition, we have the Boulder Forest Garden, where we teach about perennial-based food systems.
Over the years, there are so many community members who have helped and donated their time, supported our program at the Farmer’s Market, or donated seeds, plants or money. Thank you. Also, a special thank you to the members of Growing Community Naturally who supported the project as well as developed the Boulder Forest Garden at East Side Park. We appreciate your generosity. The most appreciation needs to go to Dean Grenz. You established a wonderful program that will continue!
Oh man, did I open a can of worms? I started out about how I needed to write a thank you to the paper about Greg and soon realized, the more I thought back, the more people there were to thank. Special thanks to: Tizer Gardens, Deborah and Tom Colella, Dave and Susie Hartman, Crystal and Larry Bagwell, Connie Grenz, Kathi Zerngibl, Jan Zietlow, Barb Reiter, Jeremias Auch, Hadassah Auch, Saraliba Auch, Reyna Auch, Dee Anna, Jim Heikes, Holter Bailey, David Deskins, Jeff Rudolph, Keha Mcilwaine, Anne Moon, James Casada, all of our FoodCorps Service Members, those that donated hay and grass clippings, Ace Hardware, Boulder River Pizza and Subs, the teachers who brought their classes to the garden, and all the kids who got their hands dirty and left their smiles in the garden.
Those that I miss, you are not forgotten.
Hesford is director of the 21st Century Community Learning Center.
