THE GARDEN STORY
Retail Construction Services, Inc. is dedicated to giving back.
We give back not only to those in need within our community, but also the future generations of this wonderful community. What started out as a great idea has grown exponentially and became an amazing reality. Here at the RCS Giving Garden, school groups, master gardeners, corporate volunteers, and our own employees work together for the common good of teaching children the art of gardening and the importance of healthy eating. Click Here for Full Story.
LOCATION:
Retail Construction Services, Inc.
11343 39th Street N.
Lake Elmo, MN 55042
From HWY 36 - go south on Lake Elmo Ave, turn left onto 39th Street, garden is at corner of 39th and Laverne.
From HWY 5- going west from Stillwater take right onto Laverne (near Fury dealership) garden is on the right at corner of Laverne and 39th street.
See what else RCS and the Giving Garden are up to:
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The RCS Giving Garden
9/14/15
Trillium Garden Club Friends Share their Helping Hands
9/11/15
Willis and Remembering 911 in the Garden
We harvested 32 pounds of produce. The produce wasn’t the only topic on our minds this morning. Remembering the victims and families of 911, the firefighters and law enforcement, and the impact it made on America 14 years ago was also on our minds this beautiful sunny morning.
A "Thank You" goes out to the lovely ladies that spent their morning with us.
9/9/15
Honey Donation & and an Upward Moving Queen Bee
A.J. Moses uncapping the honey to extract! Click on any photo to enlarge |
The honey from our 2nd hive cannot be harvested due to our very upward moving Queen Bee! Apparently, she somehow got past the "queen excluder", and made her way to the top of the hive. It is preferred to keep the queen in the lower portion of the hive to keep the brood there, leaving only honey in the top portion. So, our entire 2nd hive has brood. Good for the bee population, bad for honey production!
Here is a link to read more on the topic: https://beeinformed.org/2014/05/beekeeping-equipment-excluders/
Thank you A.J. for all that you do for the Teaching Giving Garden bees and your volunteer help with the garden as a whole!
9/8/15
PowerUp, Organic Garden & Frogs!
The PowerUp Team posing with Scare Crow Bob! L to R: Stephanie Kovarik, Jennifer Strom, Kelly Appeldorn, Marna Canterbury, Lainie Steffen and Julia Johnson (Click any photo to enlarge) |
Julia made friends with this guy in the corn patch! |
Not only in help with harvest time, but in 2014 they donated a greenhouse to the garden. Because of that generous donation, the youth who learn here, were able to start from seed, 50% of the plants in this garden.
Julia coming out of the corn with "Chippy" |
"Chippy" being unsociable! |
Chomp at the edge of our Garden! |
Please read up on PowerUp at: http://www.powerup4kids.org/Home
103.1 Pounds harvested for Valley Outreach today! |
9/1/15
Author D.S. Venetta donates book to the Teaching Giving Garden
Show Me The Green - Author D.S. Venetta |
She has written a gardening book for children that has lessons in the back. She sent the RCS Teaching Giving Garden two copies. I will be sharing these with our Master Gardener teachers and we will be putting these to good use this next year with our 2016 garden students.
Check her out at: @dsvenetta on Twitter or at:
D.S. Venetta Author Page
Thank you D.S. Venetta! This will enrich the lessons that we provide the youth in this Teaching Giving Garden!
8/31/15
Andersen Corp Harvests 180.3 Pounds!
Andersen Employee's and their 180.3 pound harvest! |
8/28/15
Sylvia and Natalie Conquer a Load of Weeds!
Sylvia and Natalie and the conquered weeds! |
Before... |
AFTER! |
Thank you so much gals for your volunteer time and uncovering our turnips and Asian Greens!
Hauling the weeds to the woods! |
8/27/15
Andersen Corp: Staining, Building & Harvesting!
Andersen Corp employee who came for harvest, stain the picnic tables they previously donated, and built benches! |
Andersen Corporation employees came and stained the picnic tables they donated earlier this year, and also assembled and donated 2 outdoor benches to the garden!
This will allow the students a place to sit when they are being taught about gardening in the Giving Garden. They enjoyed giving of their time on a pretty warm day.
30 lbs was picked and brought to Valley Outreach.
Thank you so much for your continued support in our garden.
8/26/15
RCS Teaching Giving Garden Green Apple Partner
Featured
Join USGBC-MN and our Green Apple partner Retail Construction Services, Inc. (RCS) for our MN GREEN APPLE 2015 challenge - School Gardens. What if every student learned how to grow food? What would be the impact? With the help of RCS, we’re launching planting and composting projects in schools for Green Apple Days of Service. Help us plant the seed of stewardship with MN students! Take the school garden challenge and sponsor a gardening lesson today. Celebrate GREEN APPLE 2015 with us!
Get inspired by the full story here and learn more about becoming involved.
8/25/15
Victoria's Ripple Impact on the Teaching Garden!
Victoria, our 2015 Assistant Teacher in the Teaching Giving Garden |
Have you ever seen a pebble dropped in a pond or a lake? It sends out ripples that keep expanding out further and further, eventually reaching all the way to the other side.
Like a pebble hitting the water, every action we do in this world makes a difference.
You are like that pebble in our Teaching Giving Garden...
A Bugs’-Eye View!
A Time for Me tots in the Teaching Giving Garden one last time! |
On their last visit, I promised them that the next time they joined me the corn would tower over their heads, and were we ever right! Twisting off ripe ears of corn along with cucumbers, squash, beans, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant were some of the harvesting highlights of the day!
We identified holes and brown spots and chew marks in leaves and fruit. It’s amazing what insects one notices when getting down to the level of a four year-old! In addition to the bugs mentioned above, wasps, bumblebees, slugs, grasshoppers and ants caught our eyes’ attention! We can’t forget to mention the darling amphibian green tree frog friends we found along the way as well.