The TOWER keeps going! We have been using the Tower Garden in the 3rd grade classroom of a local school! It was up and running before spring break and they have already harvested and sent food home with the students! Thanks! #sustainablegangsters

Our classroom has their tower up and running! Looking forward to seeing what we can produce!

Well has 2020 goes it has been a grit building year! We have had a few bumps this year as we tried to launch this project into a classroom! We finally have two schools lined up and ready for the spring of 2021!!!

Got to visit three third classrooms today and share how Towers work and why we use them for sustainability!!! How exciting is that!!! They were full of questions and we can't wait to plant the first seeds!

It has been a WILD ride this year in schools! I wanted to update everyone that we are looking forward to getting a Tower up and GROWING in a classroom very soon! The fall season is fast approaching and with all the bumps of last year we hope that this year will allow for more seeds to bloom and fruit in the hearts and minds of many students!

We are in Arizona and are in full bloom!

- My friend had lemons, grapefruit and oranges!
- We have a neighbor with too many beets!
- We have Swiss Chard coming out of our ears!

I shared the swiss chard with the neighbor who shared his beets with us! I took the beets to share with friends and swap for lemons! I took the lemons to share with neighbors! My friend took the beet leaves to share with her neighbor's goats! I at my beets with goat cheese! What a joy to have the circle! It was one day in our world!

Thanks - Benita Riesgraf, Chandler, AZ

Everything changes and THIS is an opportunity to teach students why we plant food and hope in the future harvest! This too shall pass and we need to be prepared on the other side! I was saddened to have to bring down the school tower that was thriving in a school basement! Amazing what can grow in a BASEMENT!!!! We have the power to chart the course of the lives in our communities by what we share! We will NOT stop teaching, sharing and caring!!!

SO MUCH IS HAPPENING!!!! The Library Tower is now out at a middle school and is up and running in a basement classroom - brining light a joy to the kids who are nurturing those little seedlings to life!

The previous school Riggs Elementary had great success with their trusted leader who I've come to admire! She is determined to teach these kids about so much in life using one simple tool! It's exciting and her PTO recently ordered their own permanent tower!

Great work! Was out visiting Sunshine Acres this month and got to see the amazing work they are doing there with the kids through their program! Feeding the minds of children! One great work through lots of small ordinary days!

What a joy to hear from Teacher Ericka when she returned the Tower after their first project! The kids were enjoying the new foods they had never tasted before, they were learning about nurturing a living plant, creating meals from plants and having fun! Next month the Tower moves to a middle school project based classroom! I can’t wait to see what happens there! And over the summer if all works out the Tower will be in a long term care facility where the residents will be growing some fresh herbs!

Wow! How our garden has grown! We are wrapping up the time we have left with the Tower Garden by enjoying the lettuce we have grown.Today we made pesto with the basil that we have been growing on the tower. Many of the kids had never had pesto before and it was a big hit! Tomorrow we will be enjoying a nice healthy salad. The kids have learned the benefits of gardening and exploring food they may not typically have had eaten before. Overall, it was a great experience for them. Next time, they would like to try other plants such as tomatoes, strawberries, and celery to see how well they grow on the tower.

What a great opportunity you have given us! We are using this Tower Garden as a Library Tower. Currently, the teachers over at an elementary school have it up and running! The project based learning students got to set it up, seed the plants and transplant. Now it is growing in the library to be showcased for learning observations. The one thing that I was excited to see was the librarian using it to teach mindfulness. How important is that! When do our kids ever get exposed to the idea of nurturing and caring for something that will be a source of wellness and nutrition for their bodies in return! What an exemplary way of teaching the cycle of energy in our own human existence!

The joy I find is realizing that when we plant a seed, we are setting our hope in the future to know we need to prepare for the good and bad. We plant more than one of each plant, we think about the placement on the tower, why one will grow faster than others and yet be just as important!

Stephen Ritz says, "kids don't need sugar to know they did a good job!" He is so spot on! Kids need to know hope for tomorrow in the things they do today! That is GREAT work!

How can we keep sharing this message? One Tower of Growth at a TIME!

Our garden is growing, and being exposed to all grade levels here at Riggs Elementary. We have showcased it in the library where it is being used to spark discussions, make observation, create hypotheses, and sets an atmosphere that promotes mindfulness and serenity.

The STUDENTS got the Tower up and running at school! It is being to thrive after the transplants of the starts and is being used in places that I never thought! The librarian is using it in a "mindfulness" project! I am trying to get in to see and ask questions. I'll keep you posted!