Welcome Back Refreshed!
Long, light-filled days, warm nights, and a break from schoolwork make summer the perfect season for recreational activities. Or, as we like to think of it – re-creation!
Welcome back to school, where a new season of opportunities awaits to learn and grow in your garden and beyond.
As our Seasons of the Regions column asks in the August Project Learning Garden (PLG) Newsletter: Did you return to a burgeoning summer harvest filled with vegetables and pollinators, or were you greeted by those all-encompassing weeds? Maybe you followed the advice from Farmer D, a PLG Info Session guest speaker, and planted a cover crop for the summer.
Whatever the current state of your school garden, the Project Learning Garden team is here to help. Please reach out if you need guidance or support as you begin the new school year.
What’s New at PLG?
We’ve been recreating too!
- Monthly PLG Info Sessions will continue to meet on the second Tuesday of each month. We now offer two meeting times to better accommodate PLG educators across the country. Join us at 3 pm ET and/or 6 pm ET!
- Special PLG Info Session: Tuesday, September 15th featuring a special guest! The session will include a certification ceremony recognizing our newest PLG Gardeneers and Gardeneer Heroes.
- In the coming weeks, we’ll be launching additional ways for PLG educators to connect via one or more community discussion platform opportunities.
- We’ll be launching a new PLG T101 professional development course soon for all PLG educators.
PLG offers flexible, asynchronous, online courses, and the T101 course is designed to help educators build confidence in gardening fundamentals, strengthen student engagement, and explore practical strategies for maintaining a thriving garden.
One important part of the all-new T101 course for PLG educators is regenerative gardening, farming, and agriculture.
What is Regenerative Farming?
Regenerative farming is part of a worldwide movement focused on restoring and strengthening the earth’s soil while reimagining how food is grown. It emphasizes working in partnership with natural systems to support healthier soil, plants, people, and communities.
As part of PLG’s new professional development courses, we had the honor of working with the filmmakers behind three groundbreaking (pun intended) documentaries about regenerative farming.
Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore narrate the recently released final installment, Groundswell. The film joins Kiss the Ground and Common Ground in a powerful series exploring soil health, food systems, and regenerative solutions. All three films are available on Prime Video.
The filmmakers have also created engaging learning modules and have shared them with Captain Planet Foundation with access for PLG educators.
PLG educators, get ready to explore innovative and accessible gardening practices that work with Earth’s natural growing systems while supporting health, wellness, and collaboration.
Everyone else, delight in a few movie nights during the final weeks of the rejuvenating days of summer. You can learn from these compelling, award-winning documentaries from the comfort of your home.
Skip the popcorn and make some bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and basil now ready to harvest from your garden.