SG561: Bringing Farms to Schools in Oregon with Rick Sherman

Why don’t we start by having you tell the audience just a little bit about yourself.

Time Stamp: 37:45

I read in your bio that you raise chickens?

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Let’s talk a little bit about the presentation I saw. The organizers introduced your keynote with a question and that question was, “Do you feel your school garden is an island among itself?” This is a common sentiments for school gardens.

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I suppose if somebody were to attempt this, you would suggest not only figure out does the school have a garden, but also get the contact information so you can reach out to them.

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Let’s talk a little bit about the profile of these folks. You’re starting to network with these schools. What did you find out about the population of people who are incharge of schoolyard gardens?

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When you think about the next tagline for your presentation it said, “Rick will show you how to unite your school garden movement in your neighborhood, city, and state in 7 steps.” Can you give us a quick overview of those 7 steps? 

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Do you find a lot of people struggle with structuring a big vision, when it comes to the garden, and asking for it from the school? If yes, how do you help people with that?

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I’m curious curios about the role social media can play in terms of getting the word out. Has social media played an important role in Oregon?

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Let’s talk a little bit more about what’s in your commercials for the schoolyard garden.

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I’m sure a number of people would be interested in assisting in a schoolyard garden, but maybe they don’t feel qualified to get involved. How can they be apart of this?

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Do the most successful gardens involve teams of people? What happens to the garden when you’re gone?

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How do you handle people who are little too proprietary about their garden?

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In terms of process, do you recommend integrating schoolyard garden programs into already pre-existing meetings like in a parent/teacher meeting or a school board meeting?

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How do you overcome resistance?

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How do most schools handle water?

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Have you ever seen a school initiate a request for a garden?

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How about hoop houses in the school?

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I was going to ask you about grants. In your presentation, you had page after page of awarded grants for gardens around your state. How do people even begin this process?

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Do you ever have gardens that start with container garden or straw bale gardening?

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Do you ever have folks who do some type of go-fund me to raise money?

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Let’s talk a little bit about resources people can get for free on your website. What resources do you recommend?

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The headshot picture of you for the Schoolyard Gardens conference here in Minnesota shows a chicken on your shoulder. Tell me more about this!

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What parting piece of wisdom do you have for the listeners who’d like to start a project like this?

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