Once again, Kassadi and Drew Dunn have organized and hosted another fun and productive work day at our Community Learning Garden. So much work went into this day to make it the special event it was for all who attended.
A BIG THANK YOU to Kassadi and Drew and their family and everyone who came out to participate. Exciting progress!!-LeAnn Brown
PLANTING REPORT (from Kassadi)
🥒12 cucumber bushy pickler 6 yellow slicer 6 🍅14 tomato Russian yellow azoychka 3 Black Cherry 3 Sun gold 3 Illini gold 2 Muscovitch 3 🌶14 peppers 2 picnic pepper 1 red 1 orange 1 bell golden California wonder yellow 1 bell red Wisconsin lake 3 Anaheim 4 Shishito 3 poblano These are the starts purchased from Bowman Organic Farm, & they all got planted.
Rock Painting Project with local artist, Sherry Weston Thayne
https://www.facebook.com/sherbare32
Report and images provided by Lead Gardener, Kassadi Dunn:
(A)=Adult (c)=child (A)= 10 (c)= 11 Repeats from last event (A)= 4 (c)= 3 🌈(A) Harli Denney & (c) Sebastian Bowen & (c) Oliver Denney. Helped plant seeds & starts in victory garden, painted rocks& put their art in the garden, helped plant the raised beds, and helped clean up. Oliver made new friends & played in the sprinklers! 🌈(A) Ann & (A) Dave Boyack Helped plant seeds & starts in victory garden & bought water bottles for everyone. 🌈(A) Kathy Harris Helped plant seeds & starts in victory garden & offered great advice! 🌈(A) Elder Cook & (A) Elder Lindauer Helped plant seeds & starts in victory garden 🌈(A) Karalee & (A) Darren Dunn Donated shade covers for the day, painted rocks & put their art in the garden, helped plant the raised beds & helped clean up. 🌈(c) Violet Boyack, (c) Hazel Devenburg(c) Piper Lish & (c) Kaydence Dunn Came to paint rocks & put their art throughout the garden 🌈(A) Dakota Booth Helped set up, helped plant seeds & starts in victory garden, helped plant raised beds & helped clean up. 🌈(c) Orrin, (c) Isla & (c) Leo Linscomb Helped plant seeds in victory garden, painted rocks& put their art in the garden, & helped plant the raised beds. Made new friends & played in the sprinkler! 🌈(A) Brittney, (c) Frankie & (c) Eric Sorenson Brought watermelon to share with everyone, painted rocks& put their art in the garden & helped plant raised bed. Made new friends & played in the sprinkler!
A Community & Children’s Learning Garden is underway for 2022 to include a solar powered greenhouse building for year round growing and many opportunities for exploring related subjects. Children will learn regenerative agriculture methods, organic ecosystem principles as well as nutrition and healthy lifestyle practices—green living free from pesticides and herbicides—and an appreciation for nature and the environment. —Healing ourselves and our planet, too!
EARTH DAY April 22, 2022 –
Join as at the garden for our first group work day! [details]
We’re excited about the many opportunities this will provide the children for learning through fun and engaging activities during the school year, but also the potential for events and programs to involve their families and our entire community year round:
A science fair with kids working on worm farms and experimenting with solar power and any number of related projects.
Children and members of the community taking the excess produce to sell at the farmers market.
Classes where the children learn about nutrition, then host tasting tables where they share their knowledge with family and community.
Children’s cooking classes, creating healthy dinners for family and friends with the produce they themselves have grown.
Teen-focused summer programs with *regenerative agriculture focus.
Mentorship programs with the senior gardeners in our community and
Many other opportunities to be out in nature–connecting with others while learning empowering, life-enhancing skills.
Why I’m passionate about these topics:
-a personal story by project initiator, LeAnn Brown
If you know me, you’ve probably heard me express my passion for growing without chemicals and the impact of what we eat on our health and the health of our planet. This became a strong focus for me when I was researching to understand why my mom was ill and continued in earnest after her passing.
This quest led me on a journey where I made one connection after another and began questioning everything with regard to our food and healthcare systems, seeing with a new awareness the answers that seem so very obvious to me now. Along the way, I discovered other people including physicians, research scientists and laypeople like me who were making the same connections.
I didn’t discover Zack Bush MD until well into this journey but I’ve been sharing his work (see below) ever since. He has the professional background and knowledge base to address these topics as well as a heart-centered, solution-oriented outlook. He speaks eloquently about these issues, with a focus on the positive action steps we can begin taking today.
His work and philosophy regarding the importance of our connection to each other and our beautiful planet along with diversity and cooperation on the micro and macro level really resonates and aligns with my personal findings and philosophy. I hope it inspires others in the same way!
We need like-minded individuals–those who are passionate about our health and the health of our planet–to join us in bringing this project to life. — [Write us here.]
The site for the Children’s Learning Garden is the south end of the Mt. View Elementary football field.
With the support of Mt. View’s Principal, Logan Kent, we received approval to move forward with this property by the MV District School Board, April 12th, 2021.
April 10, 2022: Our thanks to Kassadi Dunn for creating this digital drawing of our plans! Kassadi has just signed on to be part of MAC and to be a major contributor to the garden alongside her brother, Drew Dunn, who has been steadily working behind the scenes these last several months. Among other things, Drew installed the irrigation system and has been growing seeds at home in order to be ready for planting this spring!
Join as at the garden for our first group work day! [details]
Planting will begin this spring 2022! – If you would like to donate or sponsor, we are still fundraising for our general expense fund as well as looking for sponsors and material donations for the following specific items:
– Lumber for raised beds: 2×12’s – (or 10′ min. boards) – 312 linear ft. – April 7, 2022 UPDATE: Boards from the old McCammon school were donated for this purpose!
Still looking to obtain:
– Stone slabs for seating in our 30′ diameter amphitheater. – 20′ x 40′ greenhouse building for year round growing and learning.
We’re looking for help in all areas so if you have skills to offer, equipment to loan or perhaps you’d like to donate or become a sponsor-please message us today.
**The following video simplifies Dr. Zach Bush’s message in one relatively short video and
reaches to the heart of the vision for our learning garden.
Solutions within (!) so please watch and pass along to everyone you care about:
Farmer’s Footprint is a short documentary film which I’ve set to start at about the halfway point which gives you a good idea of the content. Of course, feel free to watch from the beginning if you have the time/inclination. 🙂 To learn more and to join the (free) Farmer’s Footprint community where you’ll receive updates and connect with others who are part of this movement, go here: https://farmersfootprint.us
*Regenerative Agriculture – excerpt from zachbushmd.com on Farming:
In 1945 Americans grew 45% of their food in their backyard gardens. Now we grow 0.1% of our food in our backyards. 50% of Americans were farming in 1880, now less than 2% of the nation is employed in agriculture.
We created this era of chemical mega farms that has led to the destruction of our soils, water systems, oceans, and human health. By the same reality, we can transform this planet to the most verdant and regenerative ecosystem that has been in many millennia.
By learning to work in a co-creative process with mother nature and her extraordinary variety of species, farmers and consumers will participate to witness richer soils and more abundance of life and health than has been seen in human history.
Rocky Mountain Power Foundation is supporting McCammon Action Council’s community garden as part of its most recent round of Safety and Wellness grants and wants to encourage others to support the effort as well, whether through donations to help them secure their greenhouse, or through volunteerism.
The foundation has provided a $5,500 grant to support this important work, and is providing additional support by increasing visibility for the organization through social media and local media.
I so appreciate Aaron Hunsaker (MAC’s Director) who got us going by networking and leading the fundraising charge; the invaluable support of Drew Dunn (Master Gardener with emphasis in permaculture/regenerative agriculture); and other gardeners in our community including Kathy Spiegel and Brent and Laurel Anderson offering advice and encouragement.
We would love for this garden to become the first of several organically grown community and family-run gardens where we all enjoy contributing and benefiting from these life-enhancing practices!
Thank you in advance for your support and for helping us spread the word! LeAnn Brown
Check out some fun ideas and inspiration on our pinterest board and let us hear from you if you’d like to be involved.
As always, you can support this project and every project in our community by becoming a Patron. – (For as little as $3.33 month you can make a big difference!) Follow the link to learn more: McCammon Action Council on Patreon
The McCammon Action Council is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization
A fun and educational day for all ages, this year’s annual Bike Rodeo and Safety Day was held August 24th, 2019.
The Portneuf Air and Rescue helicopter kicked off the event in a dramatic fashion by landing in the middle of the ball field where little kids (as well as a few grown-up kids) had the rare opportunity to sit in the pilot’s seat.
The PSI truck, the McCammon fire trucks and the Bannock County Ambulance and Sheriff were on hand for demonstrations and questions. Everyone had the chance to get up-close to these vehicles and to learn more about the people who work in these important positions in our community.
Bannock County Ambulance Demonstration on Bike Rodeo Safety Day 2019
To round out the fun, there was a huge slide and bouncy-house and lots of giveaways and treats.
Sherri Bordeaux of the McCammon Action Council and City Clerk of McCammon, says the event is growing every year and Idaho Fish and Game and Union Pacific among others are planning to be involved in 2020.
If you or your company or organization are interested in participating in this or other upcoming events, please contact Sherri Bordeaux at the City Office.
