Sooo...What's up with all the cardboard in the lawn?

Perhaps you have been by the Knox school district building or the new-and-improved Madison Elementary School.  And perhaps you noticed that the side-entrance lawn to Avanti High School/Knox is COVERED in CARDBOARD!

You would be correct, my observant friend.

This is all part of a well thought-out plan to transform the lawn into an outdoor garden classroom and community workshop space.  The process involves sheet-mulching using a series of layers of carbon-rich materials (like cardboard, dead leaves, bark chips, burlap, straw) and nitrogen-rich materials (fresh grass clippings, compost, hay) in order to create a 'lasagna' of materials (hopefully with a C:N ratio of 30:1) that will decompose and provide for a usable layer of soil for gardening.

The transformation form lawn to garden will proceed as follows:

Step 1. Poke holes in the ground (to gain access to all those awesome microorganisms in the soil) and lay down the lasagna of carbon and nitrogen-containing materials.

Step 2. Wait.

Step 3. In the spring, create a clearly defined path using burlap and wood chips

Step 4. Avanti students design the garden layout using knowledge of sustainable practices in agriculture: plants adapted for our region and microclimate, companion planting, water-conserving irrigation, nitrogen-fixing plants, pollinator-attractors, etc.

Step 5. Plant using above-ground containers, bean tepees, trellises, and directly into the ground

Step 6. Harvest and use for school purposes and/or donate to the Thurston County Food Bank


Other aspects of the space that are not necessarily included on a step-by-step timeline, but will occur at
various times in the Sagan Satellite:

--Host community workshops for the Olympia School District (seed-saving, preserving, etc.)
--Utilize the abundance of hands-on science opportunities provided by the garden
--Various Avanti school teachers may decide to conduct their classes in the Satellite
--Partnerships and collaborative learning with Madison Elementary School (already underway at the parent garden: the Madison-Avanti Giving Garden)


Questions regarding the future of the Sagan Satellite?
Please email mz.frazzle@gmail.com

Stay rad! Plant food!
/Quasar