Once on the mainland we loaded the bus with curriculum supplies, food, camping gear, and bet you can guess….18 bicycles!!! Following that feat we made our way from the Long Beach Catalina Express terminal to Santa Barbara where we were welcomed by Traci Cope at Crane Country Day School. The school graciously fed us and allowed us to stay in their library for the night. The next morning we were able to tour the campus and catch up with some students and teachers before starting activities. Visiting the garden started with checking out the stairs, trellis, and compost bins that the Sustainable Bike Tour ’06 helped construct. Crane has taken their goal of becoming waste free to heart and has a school wide composting program led by Janie and the 6th graders. All of the sixth graders that visited us this past fall gathered in their groups from Catalina and participated in challenge initiatives and garden projects. Lissa had the honor of reuniting with her group where they worked through team challenges reinforcing what was learned while at the program. In the garden David, Miah, Courtney, and Meagan delved into fun and active projects with two groups. Twenty five students, 4 instructors, and two Crane staffulty cleared a huge pumpkin patch, removed iceplant, and remulched garden spaces completing in 45 minutes what Joel said would have taken him hours to do. Gardening provides real life examples for the sustainability week the students just completed. Topics such as the use of mulching, seasonal eating, and composting of green waste were discussed with students. We had such a great time with students we really didn’t want to leave. We can’t thank Crane, Traci, Janie, Peter, Joel, and all the energetic student enough for hosting us and sharing a fun and productive morning.
As I write this we are on our voyage North to San Francisco through the stunning wine country. We will be writing more as events unfold.
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