Teaching Garden
Welcome to Mitchell School’s Teaching Garden! Our garden is divided into two areas: our edible garden and our native/pollinator garden. The main goal of our edible garden is to support Mitchell’s Healthy School Initiative, by promoting hands-on investigations of nutritious fruits and vegetables for our students. Our native/pollinator garden helps connect our students to the outdoors. It creates opportunities to teach about insects, native flora, and how important pollinators are to the food we grow.
With the help of Friends of Mitchell, many organizations, families, students and teachers, our garden is able to thrive and be where it is at today. Our garden (as are most gardens) is a work in progress. We are constantly adding and adapting to the needs of our plants and students. Check back often to see the progress of Mitchell School’s Garden!
Garden Needs and Donations
Would you like to help support our garden? We could always use help with our garden. There are many opportunities throughout the year to volunteer your time; whether it is planting, watering, weeding, or cleaning up during one of our garden events. If you would like to do a monetary donation to our garden, please click on the donate button below. If you would like to donate other items to the garden or would like more information on how to get involved, please email friends@friendsofmitchell.org
Thank you to all our grant donors and businesses that have donated to or supported Mitchell’s Teaching Garden!
Grants
2021
-Mitchell was awarded a grant from Openlands to help maintain and add to our garden!
2020
-Mitchell was awarded a school garden grant from the Whole Kids Foundation!
2018
–Nature Works Everywhere and Lowes Toolbox for Education Winners!
Thank you to the Nature Conservancy and Lowes for providing us funding to create a new learning garden at Mitchell. Located along Oakely, our new learning garden will allow classes an additional area to hold class outdoors. With the help of Christy Webber Landscapes, we removed a long section of asphalt and backfilled with new soil. Middle school students were able to install new plantings purchased by the grant money as well as plants donated by Fiore Nursery and Landscaping Supply. Middle school students also learned about the importance of creating green space in an urban environment through lessons provided by the Nature Conservancy. We plan to install tables when the weather gets warmer. We are very excited to see our hard work pay off this spring!
-New Herb Spiral at Mitchell
Middle school students helped install a new herb spiral at Mitchell. Located near the gym entrance, students helped plan + layout the stone spiral, filled it with soil and planted new herbs. They also decorated it with river rock that they painted themselves. If you ever need herbs, stop by our new herb spiral to see what is growing!
Thank you to Lake Street Supply for your donation of stone!
-Mitchell was granted a new indoor vertical garden through the Jonathan Toews Foundation with the Green Bronx Machine and CPS. We even got a visit from the Captain himself!
2017
-Mitchell School was awarded a School Garden Grant from the Whole Kids Foundation! With the money received, we will work to create a cold weather garden and add trellises for more vertical growing. These approaches will hopefully allow us to extend our growing season and create more vegetable yield, giving our students more opportunities to eat what they grow. We’ve also received a donation of seeds from High Mowing Seeds that will last us a few growing seasons!
–Openlands donated cherry trees and elderberry shrubs to our garden. These were planted down this spring with help from some eighth graders, families and staff.
2014
-Mitchell was selected as a Cook County Farm Bureau Garden Grant Recipient. We received $300 plus an additional resource, a local University of Illinois-Extension Master Gardener who assisted in the garden program.
-The American Heart Association and AETNA extended their commitment to Mitchell’s previously awarded grant and gifted $1000 towards the garden.
2013
-Mitchell was awarded the American Heart Association’s Teaching Garden Grand and Golden Shovel Award. Most of the current edible garden was made possible by AHA’s generous grant.
2008
Mitchell was selected by Openlands to participate in their Building School Gardens program. The current native/pollinator garden was created under this program. The entire school participated in then planning and installation of plants.