In Memory of Erin
Since 2023, we’ve distributed $3500 in stipends to educators who are sustaining Erin Soper’s legacy by nurturing a school garden. The $500 award is a ‘low strings attached’ token of our appreciation for your commitment to garden-based learning. We are eager to announce this year’s recipients, but first, a few words from Jon Soper, retired educator and Erin’s devoted spouse. He shares an early memory of Erin’s journey with garden-based learning and a few words of encouragement.
Voices of Experience: Erin Soper’s School Garden Journey
by Jon Soper
I met Erin the first day we started our teaching careers at McPherson Elementary many years ago. Both teaching kindergarten, we were next-door neighbors and quick friends. Immediately, we found out we had things in common; we went to the University of California, Berkeley, and we loved to garden. There was a section of bare dirt at the end of the kindergarten playground area that caught our eyes, as it was the perfect spot to plant.
That first year, we rototilled an area and the kindergartners planted potatoes. They all looked confused until we harvested them a couple of months later. Erin laughed her head off as the kids dug up new potatoes. It was like an Easter egg hunt as they dug with small shovels and their hands, excitedly unearthing small egg-shaped vegetables. In that moment, we were sold on how incredible gardening was for 5-year-olds. Watching them discover what could be planted in the dirt and then harvesting them later was like watching them learn how to write their name or the alphabet.
Erin and I, along with Chloe Faris, talked the district into putting a fenced-in garden with a water system at McPherson. Erin was also instrumental in helping me build Capell Valley School’s garden before it closed. We had almost a half-acre there and tried to get the church based food bank involved in harvesting, too.
But isn’t that the important thing with kids: getting them out there in the dirt and planting some seeds, where they can look for worms, smash some snails, and discover the Earth? There is and never will be anything wrong with playing in the dirt! It’s not necessarily standards-based instruction, but it’s important long long-term life lessons. It always amazes me how naturally inquisitive kids are when it comes to a hands-on activity.
Erin ended up at El Centro Elementary and partnered up with Paula Singletary to continue the awesome garden projects there. When the district reconfigured the campus and tore out the garden, the staff forced the issue and had the district put in a new garden at the newly named Willow Elementary school.
Though Erin never saw the completed garden, she is there in spirit; look to the sunflowers and you’ll surely know. With the help and dedication of Rebecca Lacau, Lea Ortiz, Caitlin Pramuk, Rachael Peterson and district help from Karen Fleming, the Willow garden was completed! Many teachers actively bring their students to the garden.
My message to all school garden educators is: don’t give up! Just keep digging and planting and maybe, just maybe, something great will happen.
Nominations for the annual Erin S. Soper Award open on March 4th. Established in 2022, this award distributes $500 stipends to teachers who sustain thriving school gardens.
Summer maintenance is challenging, but doable. Some educators don’t plant their last round of crops until late May/early June so they mature when students return to school in late summer. Check out the Garden Enhanced Nutrition Education planting calendar here.
New to Napa School Gardens? Introduce yourself in the comments below or subscribe to this quarterly newsletter.
Leave a comment