A Message from Zebra
By Elias “Zebra” Wallace Photos are typically taken for memories. Many people don’t realize that a photo holds secrets that are only valued by a certain person or group of people. By looking at a single photo, so many memories, thoughts, and feelings can rise up because a photo has the power to stop time and capture experiences that may never been captured again. The picture above is me, standing over the most beautiful nature setting I’ve ever experienced. This photo is so important to me because I was able to literally stop time and capture a split second of my life where I was...
Read MoreEvery room at Shady Creek has a Window
By Jake The Snake Every room at Shady Creek has a Window. When you wake up, whether it be in the Raptor cabins (named after various birds of prey) or the Mountain Cabins (one could reasonably guess what these cabins are named after), or the domes (named after nothing more than their shape.) you are greeted with sunshine in the early a.m, and starlight in the late p.m. I live in the Raptor Cabins, way up at the top of the hill. Our front lawn serves as a large stretch of grass overlooking the treeline of the Sierra Nevada. You can see hawks, clouds, tree canopies, and the gentle roll of the...
Read MoreGarden Blog: Garden Mission 2017
Hello everyone, as we celebrate the 2016 season and look towards 2017 we wanted to recognize all that has happened in the garden so far. Below are our garden mission statement and a list of projects that we have been able to complete thanks to so many amazing people. Thank you to everyone in our Shady Creek Community! Shady Creek’s Garden mission: We want students to experience the garden by encouraging adventures, making connections, and cultivating knowledge. Adventure: Our lessons in the garden are inquiry based by encouraging students to explore the world of the small....
Read MoreGarden Blog: Operation Skyward Pallets
Our food comes to Shady creek by truck and every now and then we get a large delivery in which they leave a pallet. Over time we collected these pallets to reuse them by turning them into vertical planter boxes. Planting vertically is not a new idea for example the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was completed around 600 B.C. Although there is some debate if the gardens existed at all, some historians tell a story of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, built the gardens in current day Iraq for his home sick wife, Amyitis, who used to live in a more mountain and lush area. The garden was built...
Read MoreGarden Blog: Hugelkulter bed update
Hugelkulter bed update: Success with the mound: To our surprise we received a small crop of blueberries during the summer even though the bushes were only in the ground for half a year. Fall time brought a large crop of 10 pumpkin/ gourds. We harvested them and made pumpkin bread for the school’s snack time. Then we had an abundant amount of tomato bushes partly climbing up the apple tree. Also we were able to keep basil bushes growing well until November which was longer than last year. We received a generous donation and bought a new Macintosh apple tree....
Read MoreHugelkultur Garden Beds
Our latest garden addition is the construction of a hugelkultur garden bed. Hugelkultur, which roughly translates to “mound hill” in German, is a way to combine composting and vegetable gardening together. It is a no till method that can reach up to seven feet tall and can last up to twenty years. Mound gardening is a technique applied around the world. In Eastern Europe and Germany, for instance, hugelkultur has been used for centuries to retain moisture on site, improve drainage, increase soil fertility, and use wood debris. Another example of mound gardening, referred to as swales,...
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