Get Our Newsletter
Follow the progress of the greenhouse project with Friendship Village resident Shirley Odegaard’s blog.
Watch our slide show of one of our work days
Handymen Dig Into a Project at Hoover School
Friendship Greenhouse Dedication Ceremony
Schaumburg student/senior garden a model of cooperation (Daily Herald)
Tags: Friendship Village residents, greenhouse project, lifelong learning, Shirley's blog, social activity, volunteer
Rate this Article
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...© Copyright 2012, Among Friends. Content & Management by IVY Marketing Group
Monday, May 25, 2011
For a change, a beautiful sunny day, a bit cool, but perfect for planting.
The beginning of our second year together – The Hoover Friendship Greenhouse/Garden Project. We didn’t have many seniors today, but a lot of kids, 2 teachers, staff from Friendship Village, an expert gardener stopped by, and of course, Jake Chung, the principal.
Mushroom composte had been spread out over all the plots before we even started.
We were planting by 9am – about 20 cucumbers were planted in cages, so many kinds of peppers- green, red, yellow, banana – couple kinds of tomatoes, herbs – basil & chives. Then one of the teachers brought out zinnias that the kids had started in the classroom. The spinach and onions are doing wonderful in the greenhouse.
We finished off by spreading a new kind of mulch over all the walking paths. All that work was done by 11 am. so many hands made the task go so fast. What an accomplishment!
Tuesday, April 5th was such a joy! The kids (2nd – 6th graders), teachers, and principal from the Hoover School Greenhouse Project were invited to Friendship Village for a visit. We had been to Hoover School many times last year, but they were never here.
So thanks to Herb Demmel we had a tour of the woods, the five oaks and pond area, the Village Square and pond area in the Main Atrium. Then Rick Paisley took over the tour, so we went through Memorial Garden, two model apartments (one in Bridgegate, one in Bridgewater Place), the woodshop (where the garden boxes and cabinet for the greenhouse were made) the pool, and then bean toss and hoops in the Fitness Center. It was time for lunch in the Salt Creek Room, hot dogs with all the trimmings and chocolate chip cookies for a treat.
Joe Gondek entertained us with accordion music. Some of the kids did not even know what an accordion was. We finished by singing “God Bless America”. What a pleasure to have Jeannette and Jeff make all the arrangements for such an inspiring day to start off the 2nd year at the Hoover School Greenhouse. All of us are learning so much from each other. Just a GREAT day!
How wonderful that the Friendship Village residents and staff were recognized by School District 54 as a Super Partner for their ongoing work with the Herbert Hoover Elementary School as they built, planted and continue to tend the greenhouse and garden. Kudos to all!
November 15, 2010 — Another fantastic day for the 2nd thru 6th graders of Hoover School, the teachers and the seniors of Friendship Village. Principal Jake Chung started out with the bad news that someone climbed up on the roof of the greenhouse and took some sky lites. The police have been called and nothing else was damaged. Then we heard all the good news. A Bucket Bridge was formed over the summer and the kids took turns filling up the watering cans and watering the garden – remember there were many days without rain so the rain barrels were empty. A Harvest Team was also established. Someone was also doing some weeding and the results of their labors from the Hoover Friendship Greenhouse included green leaf lettuce, spinach, beets, snow peas, hydrophonic mixed greens, and hydrophonic lettuce. The lettuce and spinach is about ready to harvest again.
The Hoover Friendship Garden vegetables included 97 banana peppers, 450 cherry tomatoes, 60 cucumbers, 74 green peppers, 8 pumpkins, 225 tomatoes, and 10 zucchini. Everything had to be counted and weighed, then compared to the prices at the store. After the Semptember harvest, the kids figured that the vegetables were worth about $ 265.00 and that did not include the October and November harvests. What a way to learn math!
They also learned that the corn was a failure because it was planted too close to the greenhouse. They learned that the strawberries did not do well. They learned that the growing season slowed down in October. The Green Thumb Club harvested some green tomatoes at the end of September and experimented with what to do with them. They learned that putting the tomatoes in a brown paper bag with some newspaper worked and they had ripe tomatoes a month later. What a way to learn science!
Friendship Village presented the students and teachers at Hoover School with a sign for the Hoover Friendship Garden made by the wood shop guys at Friendship Village. It is so fitting and so appropriate for the garden.
We wrapped up our final meeting of the year by making 4′ X 4″ tiles that will be glazed and used in the garden to identify all the vegetables we will plant next year. So we had carrot tiles, banana peppers, tomatoes, etc. And we had some treats, the School gave the seniors a water bottle for a thank you. It’s been a very rewarding year for all of us, including the Schaumburg Township Food Pantry that received the harvests. That’s all for now. We will be meeting again after Spring Break 2011, that will be our second year together. Way to Go!!
What an inspiring day! On Wednesday, September 15, 2010, the Hoover School Greenhouse Project was dedicated and named –Hoover Friendship Garden—Growing Green Dreams. The Hoover School students began the ceremony with their school song. The principal Jake Chung was so proud to introduce one of the teachers who gave a brief history of the whole project, District 54 Foundation was pleased with the result of their contribution, Lowe’s Home Improvement and other corporate partnerss were excited to be pasrt of this community effort. Tom Carroll of Friendship Village spoke about his long history with Hoover School (his children went there and now his grandchildren attend – how about that!) the Mayor of Schaumburg had words of praise for this great community project. The second graders are keeping count of the number of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and banana peppers that have been harvested. The rain barrels have been connected. Everyone is learning about recyling, the reuse of water, and conservation. The beets, lettuce, spinach, and green peas are ready for harvest from the greenhouse. The Schaumburg Township Food Pantry claps their hands when a delivery of fresh vegetables are delivered. What a way for the students to learn math, science, and compassion! With all the bad news we hear every day – today gave us all hope for the future. Just a great day.
Can’t wait to see you all at the Greenhouse and Garden dedication on the 15th! I have enjoyed every minute of working with all of you in our garden. I’ve learned so much too! Who knew pruning the tomato plants would let the green tomatoes turn red faster? Just wait until you see the planting boxes in the greenhouse. You won’t believe how fast it all grew! We even had to build a trellis for the beans! Oh and we have FIVE pumpkins! The kids are so excited! We are hoping to be blessed with a beautiful morning!
It was such a pleasure to witness the installation of the planters made by Friendship Village residents for the Hoover Elementary School. And then to watch the kids, parents, teachers, employees and seniors join together to harvest vegetables from their school garden for the Schaumburg Food Pantry, just makes you smile all over! Enjoy our movie from the day on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FriendshipVillageFVS
Monday, August 16th was one of the most beautiful days this summer. The seniors , kids, teachers, and the principal gathered at the greenhouse at 9 A.M. As with most plans, the plans for the greenhouse have changed. A couple of the senior men at Friendship Village were asked to build some boxes and carts out of 3/4 inch pine. They measured, sawed, and assembled 6 boxes and 2 carts. What a project! We filled those boxes with dirt and one of the senior women planted lettuce and peas. Others weeded the outside garden and added more dirt. And then we did our first harvest – cucumbers, banana peppers, green peppers, and cherry tomatoes. To top off the day, we picked a bouquet of flowers and made a delivery to the Schaumburg Township Food Pantry. We were thrilled with our efforts and the Food Pantry was gratefull for our contribution. Just a real great day!
Good Morning Green Friends!
~Donna
Here’s the latest from the Garden! Rich and I made five cages for the cucumbers to climb up. There are more than five plants so we set them up in groups of three. Two plants are each in a cage with the third’s vines training to the cage on either side.This will keep the vines from choking out the zucchini and crooked acorn squash and allow for more fruit to grow! I have three caged cucumbers and three on the ground at home and we are getting about 10 cucumbers every day! At that rate we will be able to have every class eating cucumbers and ranch dip for snacks! Yea! The Banana Peppers are ready to harvest and I’m looking to take a video of our First Harvest. It should happen soon since the mature peppers need to come off in order to grow more! We have lots of Green Peppers almost ready to go as well. The tomato plants are filling up. My three plants at home are loaded with tons of green tomatoes, so our garden is not far behind! Our herbs are doing ok but they really took a beating from the heat. That’s all for now,
Monday, June 21st was an exciting day at the greenhouse. Sod was torn up, post holes were dug, and there was lots of weeding! There were so many workers -teachers, seniors, students, employees from Lowe’s, and the principal, Jake Chung. AND the Daily Herald was taking pictures of all the activity.
Lowe’s has been amazing! Helping with everything – inclunding donating corn, tomato, and pepper plants. What a day! So much was accomplished and the weather co-operated for a change.
We’re really lucky to have you and your senior friends to join us in a great partnership between
Hoover School and Friendship Village.Even though I’m only in 4th grade,I really think that this is a great opportunity for you guys to have an extra curricular and we get a better chance to learn new things and you’ve probably learned new things too!!! I hope you are enjoying this experience because we sure are!!!
The seniors from Friendship Village and the kids from Hoover School had another meeting at Hoover to “brainstorm” about what to plant in the three gardens at the school.
The greenhouse will be hydroponics. This is new to me. All of us have so much to learn about hydroponics. That’s growing plants in water (no soil).
One garden probably will be for pumpkins and gourds. What fun that will be in the fall!
The third garden will probably be tomatoes, green beans, peas, and who knows….
We talked about the weather not cooperating (too much rain) so the construction has been delayed.
Some of the kids would like to plant sunflowers outside the greenhouse. They can get to be 8 feet tall.
These kids are so smart and so intelligent, too. Gives us seniors hope for the future.
One of the seniors suggested we need some fencing to keep out the four legged critters in the area.
Now, that’s something more to think about.
All of us will be learning so much on this project. The Principal, Mr. Jake Chung has been so supportive! He is a wonder! The kids are so lucky to have him.
This is an amazing partnership that has been created! We look forward to working with you throughout this process.
Here’s the background for the Hoover School project.
The Foundation of School District 54 of Schaumburg, Illinois, has had their Fund Raisers.
The teachers and principal of Hoover School has applied for a grant to build a green house at the school.
The Award in the amount of $5,000 has been granted to the school.
Residents of Friendship Village of Schaumburg have been asked to help in the planning of the green house.
The first brainstorming meeting with the 1st through 6th graders and the seniors has been held.
How exciting for all of us.