This past Saturday, a group of us gathered at the local elementary schools for our first ever school garden work party. SEED - Stewarding an Edible Estacada District - formed this past February after a few local folks (a parent and school board member, the school cafeteria manager, and me) started talking last fall about how to increase nutrition in school lunches and support the local food economy by sourcing fresh fruit and produce from local farmers. We've done a lot of work in a short time and, on Saturday, with donations from local businesses and labor from school and community volunteers, we added over 500 square feet of new garden beds in Estacada, on school property.
After a week of cold rain, sleet and snow, the day dawned bright and clear. Hats and sunscreen were brought out and kids and adults worked hard side-by-side. It was truly inspirational. Teachers were there with their life partners, older kids came on their own, principals brought their young ones, parents whose kids went to other local schools and even community members who don't have children were all there pitching in.
Next, classrooms will decide what to plant and name their gardens.
Meanwhile, I got a job. I am excited to be joining the county on May 4th as Outreach Coordinator/Program Planner for mental health services. This will mean some big changes in the weeks ahead for my family. While the full-time county work week is 37.5 hours, it is presently condensed into 4 days. In theory, I love this idea. In practice, however, it makes for some long days for kids in childcare - in a local market that is not flush with childcare options. Our goal is to find a workable plan between my start date and mid-June when Andrew is done for the summer. After that, we will have a little more time to find stable, long-term before and after-school care for the kids. It's a little tricky as Elia is heading into kindergarten next year, which in our local district is "half" day. Do we keep her in her pre-school which she loves and which has a K program (with a longer day)? Does she go to our local district and then to aftercare there so she and Asher can be in the same place? Do we pull them both and head to some private school option (there goes the salary!)? The application and interview process went so smoothly, I am leaping with hope that this next challenge will as well.
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