Morgan County Citizen: Diggin' It

Lifestyles in Morgan County

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COLOR 4, 2013

THE MORGAN COUNTY CITIZEN

Kelly Products builds MCES garden SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN

MADISON, GA (March 4, 2013) – Kelly Products, a leading provider of essential information and automation solutions to the agribusiness industry, recently installed a small teaching garden for the Morgan County Elementary School (MCES).

Students in the enrichment program will help plant the garden next month as part of their curriculum.

The idea for the garden was that of MCES enrichment teacher, Melissa Freeman, who approached Kelly Products to help out at the instruction of Dr. Ralph Bennett, superintendent, Morgan County School System. Bennett was involved in conversations with Kelly Products last year about implementing a salad bar in the school’s cafeteria. Freeman plans to introduce gardening into her third-fifth grade curriculum.

“I hope to offer the students a new and exciting learning experience through firsthand observation of life cycle, as well as instruction on how to care for plants and make healthy yet tasty food choices,” says Freeman.

The garden will incorporate edible and ornamental crops to be rotated seasonally. Freeman would like to implement a program in which parents can volunteer to help maintain the garden throughout the summer when the students are on break.

Kelly Products’ interest in gardening extends beyond its core businesses offerings. Keith Kelly, president of Kelly Products, started a company garden at his home in Morgan County five years ago to provide fresh produce to his employees and their families.Today, the 11-acre garden yields more than 100,000 pounds annually, and supports some 50 families.

“Our interest in supporting this project is not only to give back to a community that has been good to us, but also to show the children how easy it is to do-it-yourself when it comes to sustainable food production.There are scalable, practical options for just about any space, and I think the students will be surprised at just how much they can grow in this small area,” says Kelly, adding, “Sustainability is a practical and real option.”

The garden consists of four raised beds and a stacked pyramid planter.

The beds were constructed from untreated lumber and stained with linseed oil which is a natural and safe alternative for weather proofing boards to be used in edible garden beds. All soil and amendments are compliant with organic standards, and the garden will continue to be managed organically. Kelly Products donated all the construction materials, soil, mulch and labor to construct the garden. And its landscaping division, Great Estates Landscaping, will install irrigation for the garden.

About Kelly Products Headquartered in Covington, holding company Kelly Products, Inc. provides various segments of the agribusiness industry with essential information and automation solutions. In 2013, Kelly Products celebrates 20 years of helping leading chemical companies formulate and bring winning products to market quickly; assisting departments of agriculture with electronic data capture, data tracking and funds collection for greater efficiency; and supporting the consumer segment of agribusiness by providing a wealth of information and assistance that fosters results for individuals and businesses. For more information, visit www.kelly-products.com.

diggin’ it STORY BY KATHRYN SCHILIRO PHOTOS BY JESSE WALKER

Michael Vaden (left to right), Jacob Talevski, Malik Kamil and Edward Nichols get their hands dirty (top).

Larkin Merritt shows Daisy Jane Buck, Peyton O’Neal, Jane Schlabach and Karlie Lane how to plant (above).

Coletrane Phillips and Graham Foster get to planting (middle left).

Brad Kelly and Larkin Merritt, who set up the garden, answer questions before heading outside (middle right).

Peyton O’Neal (left) and Daisy Jane Buck handle the plants with care (above). Kelly Products provided the in-ground irrigation for the garden (right).

MCES GARDEN BRINGS FARM TO CLASSROOM Digging in the dirt in the raised beds outside their classroom, one Morgan County Elementary fourth grader jokes, "We wet the bed today."

Post-pun giggling and some eye rolling, from adults and students, ensues.

In all seriousness, 52 students in the Gifted program at the elementary school are learning about farming – the earth and life sciences that make up agriculture and human impact on the environment – firsthand, by establishing and tending raised beds outside their classroom.

The brainchild of MCES Gifted teachers Melissa Freeman and Molly Bonner, at the recommendation of Superintendent Dr. Ralph Bennett, they approached Brad Kelly of Kelly Products last November. Kelly and Christine McCauley, of the Madison-Morgan Conservancy, had previously approached Bennett about locally grown veggies making up a salad bar in the schools' cafeterias.

"When we heard about the [MCES] garden, we thought it was a great first step," McCauley said.

Kelly agreed to take on the project at the school and, after meetings with the Gifted teachers to work out the details, began by constructing raised beds, to become organic gardens, right outside Freeman's classroom. The construction of the beds, with the help of Larkin Merritt,

took one February afternoon. The beds will allow the student-gardeners to bypass trying to grow their crops in the Georgia clay.

"Organic farmers don't grow food, they grow soil," McCauley said.

The garden consists of four raised beds and a stacked pyramid planter made of cinderblocks. Materials, soil, mulch and labor – inlcuding untreated lumber stained with linseed oil for the beds – were donated by Kelly Products, while Great Estates Landscaping, Kelly Products' landscaping division, installed the irrigation.

"All of it's, so far, organic," Kelly said, "which means different fertilizer for the most part," adding that organic pesticides will be used if needed.

Friday, March 22, students were tasked with preparing the dirt, made up of one-third compost, onethird topsoil and one-third organic potting mix, in the beds – which included wetting the beds, hence the quote that began this story – and planting the seedlings, obtained through donations from students' parents, the Conservancy

See GARDEN Page 2C

April 4, 2013 Page 2C

N EWS & F EATURES

MORGAN COUNTY CITIZEN

“France: City and Country” photo exhibit opens April 11 SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN

Cultural Center representatives Steve Schaefer (left to right) and Ruth Bracewell accept a grant from the Plum Creek Foundation’s Blayne Harrington. PHOTO SPECIAL

MMCC receives $2,500 grant SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN MADISON, Ga. – The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, a non-profit multidisciplinary performing and visual arts facility in Madison, received a $2,500 grant from the Plum Creek Foundation in support of its Madison Storytelling Festival scheduled for April 13.

Serving children and families in Morgan, Putnam, Greene, Newton and Walton counties, the Madison Storytelling Festival will include public readings and performances from well-known storytellers, free storytelling workshops for children and families, and a visual arts exhibit.

The festival will feature Decatur-based children’s author Carmen Agra Deedy, whose 2009 book “14 Cows for America” was a New York Times bestseller and is the festival’s featured book; Tom Gonzalez, the illustrator for “14 Cows for America”; and traditional Appalachian storyteller and author Donald Davis, a featured teller for the Smithsonian Institution and writing workshop instructor.

For the festival’s visual arts exhibit, Gonzalez will provide original paintings.

“We are very excited about this new literary and visual arts event for our community,” said Ruth Bracewell, managing director of the Madison-Morgan Cultural

Center. “Plum Creek’s grant will help us include free workshops for schools and a free family workshop, which will increase exposure to this unique event.”

In partnership with the local school system, the Madison Storytelling Festival is designed to stimulate reading, writing and storytelling skills in the youth of this rural area of Georgia. The featured book, “14 Cows for America,” will interest a variety of local citizens of all ages, such as the local dairy farming industry and the Hispanic community.

“As we all love to hear stories from an early age, storytelling is an accessible art form, offering a creative way to tackle the area’s literacy challenges,” said Blayne Harrington, senior resource forester for Plum Creek. “Plum Creek is proud to help the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center bring the fun of reading and storytelling to the community.”

The Plum Creek Foundation supports non-profit organizations that improve the overall quality of life in the communities where Plum Creek operates. The Foundation board meets quarterly to review submitted grant applications.

Visit www.plumcreek.com/communityinvolvement to download an application and learn more about the foundation grant program in addition to other ways that Plum Creek is serving its communities.

The beautiful photography of local talent, Livy Scholly, will be presented in “France: City and Country,” the second installation of Perk Avenue Art Shows opening April 11 from 6-8 p.m. Livy, a lifelong resident of Morgan County, graduated from Morgan County High School in 2003 and earned a BA in History from Georgia College in 2008. She recently received her Master’s degree in Information and Library Studies from Florida State University.

In elementary school, Livy took an interest in photography and received her first SLR camera when she was 14. Composition came naturally to her, and those who viewed her work quickly realized that she had a “knack” for producing very fine pictures. “I just point, focus, think, and shoot,” Scholly explains. “I’m not looking for anything in particular or trying to create some special artistic product. If I see something interesting, something I like, I’ll try to capture it.”

In the summer between her sophomore and junior years at Morgan County

A sample of the work that will be part of the “France: City and Country” exhibit at Madison’s Perk Avenue.

PHOTO SPECIAL

High, Scholly traveled to Italy to visit her aunt in Florence. She visited Pisa, Venice, and Rome and then spent two weeks “wandering” through Tuscany.

“France: City and Country” consists of photos taken during a study abroad program in Paris. The shots of Paris proper contain traditional tourist attractions, but are taken from angles and perspectives not usually seen.

Human interest shots consist of people and places on side streets and out of the way parts of the

GARDEN

city. Scholly utilized two cameras, one for black and white and the other for color film. Her black and white Paris street scenes are reminiscent of classic 1930’s café photos.

The public is invited to meet the artist and enjoy light refreshments at the opening on Thursday, April 11th, from 6-8 p.m. at Perk Avenue, 111 West Jefferson Street, Madison, GA 30650. The show runs through July 2013. For MAG information: http://www.madisonartistsguild.org/

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and an Athens farm. Students will raise the plants, including lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, kale, strawberries, herbs (sage, thyme, lavender, mint, dill and cilantro) and flowers (marigolds, snapdragons, pink phlox), through harvesting.

Organic fertilizers kelp meal, rich with micronutrients, and green sand, mined from ocean deposits around the New Jersey area, will also be used.

"Just for them to be able to get their hands dirty is so important," Bonner said.

Teaching using the garden falls under the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiative that's being pushed in public education today. An effort to get more American students excited about and involved in these fields,

STEM is cross-curriculum, so the varying aspects of the garden will be used in math, science, even Language Arts. Students will measure growth and distance; read and write about the garden, farming, etc.; measure pH; and practice plant classification, among other conduits for learning.

Another aspect of STEM is community involvement. Kelly's involvement means his talking to students about "what kind of engineering goes into infrastructure for agriculture," Freeman said, as well as real-life application and his education background.

The teachers do want to keep the garden going year-round, so they will be looking for help this summer.

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