3 New Additions Introduced in Garden

The Campolindo garden has seen so much change in the past year, and even more changes are planned for the future. In the garden, some big additions are goats, the tables, and more. The most recent changes in the garden are the new gravel paths, scarecrows, and the heart shaped succulent bed.

Putting in gravel paths has been “several years in the making,” said the organizer of the garden’s reform, art teacher Justin Seligman. “Campo students spent quite some time digging out the paths, and we were able to hire a local landscaping company to finish it. We used funds from the California Teachers Association Institute for [a] Teaching grant, awarded to the Campolindo Sustainable Garden. Campo students helped write the grant.”

Another addition to the garden are Art 2/Advanced Honors’ scarecrows. Seligman, who also teaches this class, said, “The students in Art 2/ADV Honors suggested the scarecrow project. It seemed like fun so I thought we’d give it a whirl.”

Art 2 student junior Molly Breznikar said, “We have 7 groups in our class so we’re making 7 scarecrows, and they’re gonna be up around different places in the garden. And we’re supposed to make them kid friendly. So they’re supposed to be more cute instead of scary scarecrows.”

The garden also has a new heart shaped garden bed for succulents. Environmental Club members senior Claudia Cruse and freshman Vivian Tolajian designed the bed.

“It was actually an arbitrary design. The planks that we had…were actually naturally carved or curved a little bit into that bend. And so when we were designing it, we just saw that it made that [heart] shape very naturally. We thought it would be sweet, as an expression of love and community after being apart for so long,” said Cruse.

The succulents were planted by Cruse, Tolajian, Seligman, and Seligman’s son.

The bed was planted with succulents because the garden “had a donor, actually a woman who lives out in Moraga has tons and tons and tons of succulents. She just offered to the school to donate as many as we wanted,” Cruse said. “We had space and we thought it would be a nice, just a beautiful spot for students to sit, something great for art students to draw and look at, photography students can take photos of it. It’s low maintenance, [it] doesn’t require a lot of water and [it’s] drought tolerant, [and] environmentally friendly.”

These 3 new changes aren’t the final updates for the garden, Seligman has more plans that students and staff can look forward to, such as “mulch around the paths and pavers, additional succulent plantings, new redwood picnic tables. We hope to plant Milkweed for the monarch butterflies in the future and add an art storage shed,” said Seligman.

Seligman added, “We can always use funding donations. Teachers are encouraged to bring their students out to the garden to relax & reconnect with nature in an outside environment. When students and nature connect, everyone wins.”