Tucked into a landlocked area is a one-acre teaching community garden that just a few short years ago was an empty field. Under the stewardship of a few immensely talented visionaries and many volunteers, that field of weeds and dreams is now a model garden that serves multiple purposes. It functions as a community center, an outdoor laboratory for teaching fundamentals of organic gardening to students, it provides food and recipe kits to Title 1 students and their families, and it is a field trip destination for students.
Garden Joy is the representation of the determination of several people. Fortunately, two founding Board Members brought unique contributions to the program. Retired State of California UCCE Stanislaus County Farm Advisor Kathy Anderson, also a Master Gardener, has volunteered countless hours of expertise and labor in developing and building the garden and program. Anderson also was instrumental in recruiting fellow Master Gardeners to volunteer for the teaching program. Any conversation about the founding and mission of Garden Joy includes mention of Co-Founder Sarah Darpinian, who according to those involved in the garden, was focused in her drive to bring Garden Joy into existence. Evidently, Darpinian is skilled at marketing, soliciting sponsors, and grant writing, as well as being hands on in the garden.
To create the delightful area, the land was plowed, irrigation was installed, and greenhouses, storage sheds, eating and teaching areas, paths, trellises, and garden beds were planned and built out. These areas surround a multipurpose central lawn which is used as an overflow teaching area and a picnic and play area used by families who visit the Thursday evening Farmer's Market held in the adjacent parking lot.
The pristine organic garden now features a large pollinator bed, two Milkweed beds, a large tunnel for growing vegetables vertically, a long row of lavender, multiple vegetable beds, several picnic and learning areas, a newly-installed vermicomposting area, several greenhouses, a composting area, an outdoor movie area—all which flank a large central lawn. Best organic gardening practices utilized include drip irrigation, crop rotation, attracting pollinators, regularly amending planting beds with compost, on-site composting, and covering all non-planted areas with cardboard, weed cloth, and bark. It has been a multi-year effort and constant tinkering to improve the site.
Teaching children is a priority at Garden Joy and Master Gardeners have made it happen. Late in the summer of 2022, a group of San Joaquin Master Gardeners met to develop a gardening curriculum framework suitable for second graders. Seven Master Gardeners then committed to teach once a month for the entire school year for two second grade classes at nearby Ripon Elementary School. Each class section is about 11 minutes and there are 5 stations. Small groups of students rotate through the stations for each class. Each section is taught ten times each morning.
The curriculum is serious business. During the planning session, one Master Gardener introduced the group to “Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening: Resources for Instructors” a training manual from the Center for Agroecology at the University of California Santa Cruz, and it became a resource and guide for the volunteer instructors.
Master Gardener Martha Hawkins, who has been involved in the garden from the beginning, shared her curriculum from this past year. She taught once a month. The varying subject matter, much of which she had to relearn before teaching is below.
- Lifecycle and Migration of Monarch
- Photosynthesis
- Lifecycle of Insects and complete and incomplete metamorphosis
- Lifecycle of a worm
- Why have a home garden?
How long from garden to table
Nutrition loss during commercial agriculture field to table - Anatomy and Dissection of a Pumpkin
- Water Cycle
The summer camps and field trip programs are part of the education priority. In July 2022, Val Ishmael was brought on board to steward both programs in addition to working with the second-grade program. Ishmael has recruited instructors for this year's summer camp and created lesson guidance and structure for the program. The pilot field trip program just ended and was a huge success. Between April 18 and May 24, more than 600 students visited the garden. Depending upon how far the students traveled, they are in the garden for 90 minutes to two hours of touring and instruction. Students are primarily from San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, but the field trip program is open to any school who can travel to the garden. They also teach the teachers and give tours and presentations for other groups. On June 21, the garden is providing a tour for the San Joaquin Master Gardeners.
“Recipe Kits” are another important Garden Joy goal. Recipes and produce from the garden and other sources are provided once a month to students at a local Title 1 school, where half the students quality for free lunch. 600 meals were provided in Recipe Kits, each designed to feed four people, last year.
Garden Joy, 929 W Main Street, Ripon, CA, is open to the public to visit Monday-Saturday, 8 am to 7 pm. Access is through the gate behind the parking lot of Studio Joy. It is worth a visit as Garden Joy lives up to its name and is a garden delight!