The Diamondhead Community Garden

In 2007, the MRG bestowed satellite garden status to the Diamondhead Community Garden. The garden was begun as an idea with a plan, and with hard work and determination, grants and gifts, the garden was completed in 2007.
More information is being gathered about this garden.

Woolmarket Elementary Garden

In May of 2008, the MRG recognized a garden built by the students of Shirley Hardman. With assistance from parents and volunteers, Hardman's gifted and special education students created a fantastic garden inside a school courtyard. It is a wonder to behold.

These photos were submiltted by MS. Hardman. They show the construction of the garden.

Working on the premise that the outdoor environment positively affects all those who use it, gifted education students worked with the students of the autistic class to create a healing/therapeutic garden. This wa sa unique project in that it allowed interaction with high functioning peers enabling special needs children to interact independently of adults, thus becoming less aware of the characteristics that make them different. It created a synergy that has positively impacted the special population students, promoted inclusion, and fostered understanding and tolerance. It has reduced stress and promoted a sense of well being which has positively impacted learning.
The garden is an ongong project. The overall objective of the project is to encourage sociability among the students, to promote relaxation, and to foster a sense of well-being. For the autistic students, it is an opportunity for occupational therapy to improve delayed motor skills and to reduce sensory input from the demands of the indoor environment. For the gifted students it is a lesson in patience and co-operation and an opportunity to engage in physical activities outdoors, as well as first hand experience in planning, planting, composting and studying habitats.
In 2007-2008, the Gifted Program had forty students and the autistic class had ten, making a total of fifty special population students who directly benefit from this project. However, special education teachers are using the healing garden as a reward for good behavior and the social worker uses it as a therapeutic 'time out' for troubled students needing a place to regroup. Regular subject teachers are bringing students for reading lessons and kindergarten has used it when learning about their senses.
The garden gives the autistic students an opportunity to engage in activities that stimulate the vestibular and propioceptive systems, thus reducing behaviors such as rocking and spinning that are not appropriate indoors. The physical activities release excess energy and reduce stress which in turn positively impacts learning when they return to the more traditional, indoor classroom setting. The garden also brings concrete meaning to abstracts like seasons making them easier to understand.
The Mississippi Renaissance Garden Foundation is extremely proud to have this shining example of a satellite garden that not only provides beauty to the school surroundings, but provides so much else to the education of all students at Woolmarket Elementary.