Caze Courtyard Garden and After School Program

Caze Elementary School’s building surrounds a beautiful interior courtyard that has been developed into an outdoor classroom for the students, which was established in 2005. Most recently an after-school garden club has been created, integrating many gardening and environmental topics into the curriculum. The children take lessons on gardening, nutrition, plant growth, wildlife, and other pertinent topics. Together with Master Gardeners, the children learn how to start seeds, plant, and care for the plants, which include vegetables, herbs, annuals, perennials, and berries. The program provides valuable education to the children and allows them the opportunity to eat food that they have grown themselves.

NOVEMBER 2024 UPDATE: On two days in early October we transplanted succulent plugs with thirteen classes (all elementary grades Pre-K to grade 5) at Caze Elementary School. We were blessed with beautiful weather while we planted in the courtyard that still had many blooming sunflowers and perennials. Over 330 students learned about various varieties of succulent plants – including the spiky cacti and the healing aloe vera. These students also learned how easy it is to care for succulents. We had a variety of Sempervivum (Hen and Chicks) plugs for students to transplant, and they were so excited to choose their own plant! The kids kept us on our toes with many questions. Students, teachers and the administration expressed their appreciation for the event and for all of our Master Gardener volunteers who work tirelessly to keep the courtyard beautiful for the school.

JULY 2024 UPDATE: In 2024 we celebrate the twenty year anniversary of the Caze School Courtyard Garden being a SWIMGA project community garden – the garden was added to our project list in 2004. Many Master Gardeners have helped in the past twenty years, making the entrance an inviting way to start the day, along with making the courtyard an educational classroom that the teachers and students enjoy visiting. Throughout the years, the garden has had many chairs, cochairs, and volunteers, all with the same goal of educating the children and enjoying the outdoors. Seven stations have been built into the courtyard for visitors to enjoy: 1. Sensory Area 2. Pollinator Lane 3. Sunflower Reading Area 4. Gazebo 5. Staging Area 6. Vegetable Garden 7. Pergola.

The Junior Master Gardeners after school program has taught many children how to grow vegetables and plant flowers, educated about pollinators and native plants, and ultimately encouraged them to take this knowledge home to grow their own gardens. The Day Education program has educated children on how to plant bulbs, how to plant a Three Sister’s Garden and how to harvest the produce. They’ve enjoyed learning about butterfly metamorphosis along with releasing them in the courtyard. Our vegetable garden has produced many fresh vegetables to donate to area food pantries.

We held an open house at Caze on July 16. inviting all Master Gardeners to come and enjoy the Caze entrance and courtyard.

JUNE 2024 UPDATE: May has been busy in the Caze courtyard – planting flowers, vegetables, and spreading mulch. The vegetable garden is producing broccoli, kale, onions and radishes. The Caze teachers are using the courtyard as an educational tool to teach the students about vegetables, flowers, and pollinators. At the Butterfly Days on April 19, fourteen butterfly habitats of painted lady caterpillars were passed out to eleven classes, followed by a presenation to each class a presentation on metamorphosis of the caterpillars. We were in the courtyard in May when two classes came out to release their butterflies — one habitat released nine butterflies while another had seven to release.

On May 10, Caze held a reward class day for students. The vice principal chose seven students to spend one hour in the courtyard, where they got a tour educating them about pollinators, native plants, vegetables, and how to read a seed packet. These students also learned how to plant and divide flowers, how to plant okra and radishes, and the signs for harvest timing for vegetables. Each student received a package of zinnias to take home to plant.

On May 13, when the corn planted in April reached 4-6 inches tall, Three Sisters Garden volunteers did a second event with the 4th grade classes, planting beans and squash. In addition to planting, students are instructed in the nutritional value and biological value of the Three Sisters — corn, beans, and squash. If all works out, they will meet again in the fall to harvest the crop and provide the experience of making corn meal.

May 2024 UPDATE: Angel Mounds Three Sisters volunteers helped 60 4th graders plant corn in a mini Three Sisters Garden in April. The children learned about the Three Sisters Legend and companion gardening.

April 2024 UPDATE: On February 27 and 28 we held another successful spring bulb planting with the students of Caze Elementary! Sixteen classes with over 385 students planted daffodil bulbs with the help of 12 SWIMGA volunteers. The bulbs were donated by a SWIMGA member from her property. The kids were amazed that they were already sprouted and that some even had small buds. The teachers, administration and students were so thankful, and everyone is looking forward to sunflower and zinnia seed planting with the students in May. As the Caze courtyard garden comes back to life this spring, some of the soil and mulch are being replenished. The gazebo and pergola will also be stained since that hasn’t been done in almost five years.

October 2023 UPDATE: After a long, enjoyable summer working hard to make the Caze courtyard look good for the faculty and students, the fall cleanup is done. The garden has been harvested, flowers have been cut down, and all equipment stored. Thanks to our team of Master Gardeners for making the year a success! Our small vegetable garden produced 140 pounds of vegetables for St. Vincent DePaul and the Salvation Army food pantries. A total of 1038 contacts were made with the students through the Caze Open House, Three Sisters Planting, and Herb Transplant days. At the end of October, we helped with the Caze Fall Carnival. The seed-started sunflowers in the sunflower reading area were a big hit with the students and their classrooms, with many class pictures taken in front of the reading area. The squirrels also enjoyed the seeds very much. We had a good year and are planning for the spring.

September 2023 UPDATE: Caze School’s August 4 open house was a resounding success. The mini display garden left 400 parents and students amazed, with many visiting the courtyard for the first time. Among the highlights was the discovery of a monarch caterpillar on the swamp milkweed. One lucky drawing winner walked away with a free Harvest cookbook.

June 2023 UPDATE: The entrance and courtyard have been weeded and planted. The flowers are blooming while the vegetable garden has begun producing onions, radishes, spinach and broccoli. The Jr. Master Gardener’s last class was April 26. There was a second planting at the Three Sisters Garden with fourth graders on May 4, when they planted beans and squash around the corn that was planted in April. One hundred and fifty-five students planted seeds across two days, on May 10 and 11 – the students got to choose between a sunflower or zinnia seed to plant in a cup to take home. The kids planted a small vegetable garden along with a zinnia flower bed to end the year. A pizza party for the kids was held on their last day.

April 2023 UPDATE: Over 300 kids planted freesia bulbs at Caze Elementary during the first week of March. We were blessed with beautiful warm weather the first two days. Each class started with a short discussion in the “Sunflower Reading Room” area. Volunteers helped each child plant a freesia bulb then kids were taken on a tour of the garden to hunt for bulbs. There were beautiful daffodils and crocuses in bloom for the kids to find as the tulips, irises, and fennel were starting to emerge. The kids were most excited to find carrots in the vegetable section, and the master gardeners were shocked by this discovery. The third day was too cool to plant outside, but we still braved the weather for the garden tour. Special thanks to these volunteers that worked so hard to make it a wonderful, fun experience for the kids.

February 2023 UPDATE: Volunteers met early in 2023 to plan the summer gardens. There will be a new herb garden, from the herbs being planted in pots to being planted in the ground. There is all new signage to place in the various gardens to help the students identify each garden. At the end of February there is a three-day bulb planting with the students. There are 10 students honing their gardening skills through teaching, planting, and experiments in the junior master gardening after school program. There has been a lot of clean up, spreading leaves, sorting seeds and painting to get ready for the new gardening season.

September 1, 2022 update:

After two years of the COVID epidemic, the Caze Courtyard gardeners were eager to get back to work this spring. We were warmly welcomed by the principal, staff and students who were familiar with seeing the master gardeners in the courtyard, as well as the front entrance garden (Indiana native area). Currently the gardens are relatively easy to maintain due to the favorable weather, and because many of the plants are perennials, that are now flourishing after over six years of working in these areas. The vegetable garden is outstanding due to the hard work of Brenda Halter and others. The design is great for a schoolyard garden with small quantities of many different types vegetables. Common vegetables like tomatoes, peas and beans are represented, but also special varieties like Mallard spinach can also be found in the vegetable garden area. The Pergola area is comprised of eight large pots with various plants that have edible flowers. The Hyacinth beans are doing very well and climbing up the posts in the Pergola area and have beautiful flowers on them. The octangular raised bed (Sunflower Reading Room Area) is transitioning to a cool weather vegetable garden with cabbage, broccoli and kale. A few sunflowers finally came up, but so far this has not been a good year for sunflowers, at least not in a our gardens. Pollinator Lane is now a mature area, requiring minimal care. The plants in this area are all perennials that were planted to attract bees, birds and butterflies. We are looking forward to continuing our day education program with Amy Kehler, coordinating this program. September 7, 8, and 9 we will be planting succulents with the students. We also are restarting the afternoon program (Junior Master Gardeners). Margo Walker will use her skills as an art teacher and master gardener to teach this program along with Terri Neumann and other master gardeners interested in working with the children as part of the Junior Master Gardeners.

At the 79th Annual Soil and Water Conservation District Meeting and Banquet on February 19, 2020, SWIMGA member Cindy Farmer received the Conservation Educator Award. Cindy is in charge of the After School Program.

Here is the wording for the Conservation Educator of the Year Award: “Cindy Farmer is the project leader for the Junior Master Gardener program offered at Caze Elementary for 12 students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. The students study soil science, the water cycle, beneficial garden insects, the importance of soil sampling, how to grow and plant seeds using the square food gardening method, how flowers are pollinated and by whom are just to name a few. The students grow 36 different varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs organically in pots, grow bags, raised beds and in-ground gardens. This program provides teachers with Monarch eggs in a mini habitat where students observe the life cycle changes of the Monarch butterfly and release the butterflies in the garden every year. A worm composter is used in the class allowing them to add worm compost to new plantings, where students see how worms help recycle organic material and make it available to the plants as nutrients. Cindy also teaches the importance of nutrition, food preparation, safe food handling and cooking techniques where students are encouraged to eat through the colors of the rainbow every day. The Vanderburgh County SWCD is proud to honor Cindy Farmer with the Conservation Educator Award.”