10.09.09

10/09/09 – Clear Creek Elementary Funds School Garden with Bulb Sales

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – On October 1^st, 2009 the students and staff of Clear Creek Elementary School turned in their orders for daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and garlic to plant in their yards and gardens this fall.  This was a new fundraising program both for the school and for Nature’s Crossroads, an organic seed company starting up in Bloomington.  The two groups teamed up last spring for a fundraiser focused on selling organic vegetable and flower seeds.

Teachers at Clear Creek were very supportive of the fall fundraiser and were impressed its educational component.  Nature’s Crossroads came to the school in September to give a presentation on the life cycle of a tulip bulb.  The presentation concluded with a short game similar to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” where students have to quickly strike the pose of a bulb in each season.  “Some of the older kids were a little skeptical at first,” said fundraiser organizer Laura Brown-Cano, “but after a minute they got into it as much as the first graders.”

Teachers also received a DVD of “The Gardening Guys,” a short locally produced video about fall gardening techniques, along with a worksheet for students to complete.  Students enjoyed learning about gardening but were most intrigued by the prizes offered – all of which came from local businesses in Bloomington and Monroe County, including Halloween costumes and local pumpkins.

Clear Creek sold $2,832 in fall gardening products, raising $708 for the school arboretum and gardens.  Nature’s Crossroads will also be donating an assortment of bulbs for the school.  Hopefully the flowers will be in full bloom when Nature’s Crossroads returns to host their spring fundraiser focused on seeds for the garden.

For more information about Nature’s Crossroads and school fundraisers please call Maggie Sullivan at 812-327-9612 or e-mail maggie@naturescrossroads.com.

About Nature’s Crossroads: Nature’s Crossroads is a Bloomington-based small business offering organic/eco-friendly seeds and supplies to gardeners in the Midwest.