1. Acknowledgments
I would like to take the time to thank my internship supervisor
Kelly Hedberg. She has placed alot of trust in me making this
internship what I desire, and I have thrived under this type of
environment. I would also like to give a broad acknowledgment
to the people who played a role in my education. Those
individuals who were involved in my quest to achieve the rank
of Eagle Scout and learn permaculture, gave me the skills and
knowledge to do great things here.
Broadmor Elementary School
Broadmor Elementary School located in Tempe near the
intersection of College Ave and Broadway, serves k-5th grade.
What makes Broadmor Elementary School unique is that they
are the only elementary school in the county that has a school
garden. You could say Broadmor is the guinea pig in whether to
expand this kind of program to other elementary schools. The
PTA has strong volunteer efforts and allows this program to
exist. The school garden has generated so much buzz, that there
is a waiting list (over 100 students) to enroll your child at this
school.
The Mission of The Learning Patch is to:
• Create and sustain a dynamic outdoor classroom for learning
across all disciplines, including science, math, language arts,
cultural studies, visual arts, environmental science, nutrition
and wellness.
• Advocate for the teaching of practical life skills and
environmental education through the use of hands-on, inquiry-
based teaching methods.
• Provide an enduring meeting place for the Broadmor
community to nurture relationships among students, staff,
families, and surrounding neighbors
.
My Work Projects
While interning at Broadmor Elementary, I took on several
work projects to enhance the garden:
• My 1st work project was to move three raised garden
beds that were under utilized in a shady area of the
garden. I transferred them to spots with direct
sunlight. (Exhibit A)
• My 2nd work project was the creation of a curved
middle perimeter bed. This construction of this
raised bed is the largest and deepest raised bed in the
garden. It is a prime location for plants with deep
root systems such as corn. (Exhibit B)
• My 3rd project was the removal of the old compost
pile and replacing it with a second compost pile
that’s larger and can hold more compost.
These projects took alot more time than expected. When
getting into these projects, I realized how low quality the soil
was that I was moving, and had to re-think things and take time
to sift all soil and compost to remove unwanted debris such as
bark, glass, plastic, and metal scraps. Looking back, I probably
spent 35 hours sifting compost by hand.
Conclusions, Final Thoughts
& Reflection
I have truly cherished the opportunity being an intern at
Broadmor Elementary School. It has meant alot being able to
teach these kids from my own experiences and contributing my
knowledge for the betterment of a garden. On my first day, I
didn’t know how much I would really enjoy waking up early on
Tuesday mornings and teaching in the garden. To my surprise,
this has been a highlight of my week, getting the opportunity to
educate youth.
I have been gardening since I was 15 years old when I
lived for three months at a permaculure farm in Hawaii. Since
then, I gardened two years at my boarding school in Bonners
Ferry Idaho, and built honeybee hives for my school as my
Eagle Scout project. After graduating boarding school, I built a
garden at my families home in Fairfax Virginia, and currently
have five raised beds 50ft long, and 3 honeybee colonies. My
internship at Broadmor has encompassed many aspects of my
life to date.
Its been great to be able to use my strengths in handiwork
and construction, to construct raised beds, build a bigger
compost pile, and importantly better utilize our limited grow
space. Reflecting upon my contributions, made me reach out to
express my interest in staying on at Broadmor, interning in the
Fall 2015 semester. During this time I will be able to finish out
all my ideas to utilize space efficiently, and create several more
raised beds and a visually appealing, functional, inviting
entrance to the garden.
Useful resources and books
Permaculture: A Designers Manual by Bill Mollison
This book is my bible when it comes to growing a garden in
any type of biosphere. I have used it to build and maintain
gardens in Hawaii, Idaho, Virginia & Arizona.
NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
I used NOAA constantly to track weather forecasts and
planning. I had to sift soil and lay concrete in dry weather. On
several occasions the weather prevented me from getting the
work done as fast as I would have liked.
I started 12 tomato
plants under a grow
light in January. In this
photo, I am assisting
students planting the
six inch tall plants into
a raised bed.
Exhibit B. In these photos I
am laying brick and mortar for
the new curved middle
perimeter bed. In the center of
the photo is our drip irrigation
line spout, where our irrigation
tubes connect. I had some
help in this project from
volunteers during one of our
community garden workdays.
Picture to the right. A
previous intern made this soil
sifter. It wasn’t functional as
built, using a bird netting
screen. I modified it to sift
through a metal screen and it
worked perfectly for sifting
compost.
For further information
Andrew (AJ) amcilvai@asu.edu.
Internship Supervisor: Kelly Hedberg
broadmorgarden@gmail.com
Carrots harvested
by the students in
April 2015.
Broccoli harvested
in February 2015.
February’s lesson
plan was Citrus.
Students juiced
lemons, limes,
oranges and
grapefruit. I am
pictured on the left,
helping students
squeeze their
pieces of fruit.
Exhibit A: In the picture to the left, is the 3 raised beds in their
new locations with transplants. In the photo to the right is a
more recent photo. The sunlight has made these sunflowers
taller than I am.
Exhibit B: The curved raised bed is pictured above. The corn
has just sprouted and may not be viable in the picture to the
right.
Once this raised bed was
built, I had to sift donated
soil to fill the raised bed.
We received a low quality
compost donation from the
city of Tempe, that was not
usable to the schools
needs.
Pictures above took in March 2015 Pictures above took late April 2015