SMART GARDEN

Edgewood Community Learning Garden built for kids

By Annie Kinnett Nichols

Community gardens are starting to flourish around Intown, but Edgewood Community Learning Garden in partnership with the Wylde Center is not just a garden – it’s a destination.

Located at the corner of Hardee Street and Mayson Avenue, the greenspace might be mistaken for a local park with its playground, benches and gazebo. But take a closer look and you’ll spot chickens, bees and tidy gardens growing all sorts of tasty vegetables. I met up with Monica Ponce, the manager of the garden, and got schooled on what the Edgewood Garden is up to.

Ponce said each busload of students that visit the garden brings new opportunities to educate kids about things they are already learning in the classroom. For instance, if students are studying George Washington Carver they can tie in his background of botany and inventions to the garden. History, science, politics and the weather can also be tied with a visit to the garden.

Meanwhile, Ponce said the garden also educates kids on where there food comes from. School field trips to the garden yield awareness that carrots come from under the ground and chicken eggs come from a chicken not a carton.

“Today’s city children don’t always understand that they can easily grow a garden of their own and eat fresh veggies that they planted,” Ponce said.

The Edgewood garden uses all natural resources including two beehives that are located in the chicken coop. The chickens help the bees survive by eating beetles that get into the hive and destroy it. The healthy bees then pollinate the garden and keep it growing. They also make yummy honey and the kids can see that honey comes from bees instead of the grocery store.

Ponce said everything in the garden is used as a tool to teach eager kids. “They all have a blast and get to plant and visit again to see their food harvested,” she said.

The beautiful garden has also brought the neighborhood together as a place to relax and have fun. The playground was built to entice moms and wee ones to come to the garden as well. It’s open from dawn to dusk and most mornings you will see Ponce pulling weeds, watering chickens, and working the garden.

Grab your brood and come out and see for yourself on Sunday, May 17, when the garden will host the Spring Sprout Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. The event will feature games, crafts, a DS, pizza and popsicles from King of Pops.

To learn more about the Edgewood Garden, visit wyldecenter.org/edgewoodcommunity-learning-garden.

EcoBriefs

Park Pride’s Community Garden Tour is May 30 from 1 to 5 p.m. Join Park Pride to get inspired by what’s growing in Atlanta and to network with local garden enthusiasts Whether you are an experienced or novice gardener or interested to learn more about community gardens, this tour will provide plenty of insight and inspiration. Members of each garden will be on site to provide an overview of their garden and to answer your questions. Come fall in love with our growing community, cycling and our city. The cost is $10 if you bike to the event or $25 for the bus option. For more information and registration parkpride.org/get-involved/ events.

Stephanie Stuckey Benfield has been appointed as the new Director of the Office of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta. Benfield, a former state representative from DeKalb County and long-time environmental advocate, will lead the city’s sustainability efforts as former director Denise Quarles transitions back to a career in the private sector. “I am excited to have another capable, experienced leader join the Office of Sustainability,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “Stephanie Stuckey Benfield has distinguished herself in her advocacy for sustainability and our environment from her time in the Georgia General Assembly to her leadership at GreenLaw. I look forward to working with Ms. Benfield to keep Atlanta on the path to being one of the top sustainable cities.” Benfield has served as the executive director of GreenLaw for the past three years, an Atlanta-based organization providing legal and technical assistance to environmental and community groups statewide.

Tickets go on sale May 1 and are expected to go fast for the Wylde Center’s Beer Garden Silent Auction and Fundraiser on June 28 in the Oakhurst Garden, 435 Oakview Road, Decatur. The popular event brings together a number of local brews, food and music for a casual evening outdoors. A VIP Happy Hour begins at 4:30 p.m., while the main event lasts from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. VIP tickets are $75 and are available at wyldecenter. org/beer-garden. The Beer Garden is presented by Chip Wallace of Keller Knapp and all attendees must be at least 21 years old.

Taking green meetings to the next level, The Westin Peachtree Plaza in Downtown is launching the Green Tour. This new on-site specialty event for meeting attendees provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sustainability, conservation and environmental efficiency efforts in the John Portman-designed, iconic AAA Four Diamond hotel. Guests will get a look at how the hotel handles recycling, environmental practices in the kitchen and room cleaning.

Canterbury Court , an independent retirement/assisted living community off of Peachtree Road in Buckhead, has won a GIPPY Trailblazer Award from Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) for Canterbury’s recycling program, which kept more than 45 tons of recyclable materials out of Atlanta’s landfills in 2014 alone. GIPL is a non-profit interfaith group promoting sustainability among Atlanta’s religious community. Other winners were Central Presbyterian for an environmental retro-fit of their building, St. Phillips AME Church for offering annual recycling events and a fresh food market on their property, and Young Israel Synagogue for building the first EarthCraft certified house of worship in the Southeast.

Open for Business

The Peachtree Road Farmer’s Market in Buckhead officially opened for the 2015 season on April 11 at the Cathedral of St. Philip. The market will continue on Saturdays through December 19.

At Left, Meredith Hopkins and her son Knox buy Simply Fresh juice from vendor Dolores Svensson.

At right, Yasir Araya represents Eden Easy Beds, a company that sells succulents in handcrafted cedar planters.

The Office of Sustainability today announced that the City of Atlanta and metropolitan region rank third on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) seventh-annual list of the top 25 U.S. metropolitan areas with the most Energy Star certified buildings in 2014. The 328 Energy Star labeled buildings in Atlanta achieved significant reductions in their energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions. These buildings represent more than 69 million square feet and will save more than $55 million annually in energy costs while preventing greenhouse gas emissions equal to the emissions of 48,700 homes a year. Find out more on the 2015 top cities at energystar.gov/topcities.

Atlanta’s first permanent facility for the recycling of all those objects that are too harmful or bulky to place at the curb is officially open. CHaRM – the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials – encourages reuse while diverting thousands of pounds of household hazardous waste, bulky trash and other hard to recycle items from local homes, water supplies and landfills. CHaRM, located at 1110 Hill Street, is open Tuesday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.