June Events

We invite you to enjoy what the garden has to offer Vestal School. We encourage everyone to be a part of the garden and attending one of our June events is a great way to start.

Garden Work Party- Saturday June 4^th 10 am- 12 pm

We will be getting the garden ready for the summer months.

No gardening experience needed. We will supply tools and snacks.

Garden Get Together-

SaturdayJune 11^th 10 am- 12 pm

Enjoy time in the garden and meet Vestal families and community

gardeners. There will be an art project for kids and you may bring a

snack to share.

Questions? Contact Garden Coordinator Laura Benjamin at laurabenjamin.vestal@gmail.com or 503-916-6437.

Hooray for the Sun!

Thank you to all the wonderful Vestal parents and students who helped out at our Big Spring Planting this past Saturday April 30th. We painted our two new picnic benches, transplanted strawberries, and planted over 20 new plant starts. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was so nice to be outside spending time in the garden.

We are planning a June work party as our last garden event of the school year. Keep a look out for details to come soon.

Big Spring Planting

Mark your calendars! The Vestal Community Garden's BIG SPRING PLANTING is Saturday April 30th from 10 am- 12 pm. We will be planting a variety of seeds and plant starts. There will be seeds for community gardeners and volunteers to take home. No gardening experience required. We will supply tools and snacks. We hope to see you there!

Earth Day

This Friday April 23 is Earth Day! Founded in 1970, Earth Day is a day intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for our natural environment. This coming weekend there are a variety of ways to get involved in Earth Day. Almost all the events are free and family friendly. Take a look here and here for lists of Portland area Earth Day festivities.

Spring Has Sprung

It's officially spring and Vestal students are busy planting their spring gardens. Students are transplanting the snap peas, lettuce, and spinach that they started indoors when the weather was still too cold for outdoor planting. And as the weather warms up, we can plant radishes, carrots, eggplant, chard, and more lettuce and greens directly in the garden. Now we just have to be patient until May when we can begin eating and enjoying our fresh garden vegetables.


Mark your calendars!
Our next work party is Saturday April 30th from 10 am to 12 pm. We will be planting a variety of seeds and starts as part of our "Big Spring Planting". More information to come soon.

Check Out Kitchen Gardeners International

The Vestal Community Garden is proud to be featured on Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI). KGI works "to empower individuals, families, and communities to achieve greater levels of food self-reliance through the promotion of kitchen gardening, home cooking, and sustainable local food systems." We are proud to be featured on KGI's website and hope that our work at Vestal can be an inspiration for others passionate about gardening. You can take a look at our profile and video here.

One year ago...

...the Vestal Community Garden opened! It's hard to believe that the garden has only been up and running for one year. In the past 12 months we have:

-Provided hands-on outdoor learning opportunities to the 450 students at Vestal School, instilling environmental stewardship and healthy lifestyle habits.
-Increased parent and community member involvement at Vestal School through garden classroom representative and work party volunteer opportunities.
- Turned an impervious area of black top into a bountiful garden that treats and retains storm water, improving our watershed health.

We look forward to the coming year and all it has in store. Thanks to everyone for helping to make our first year a success!