Continuing to Branch Out over Familiar Ground

 At TE, expanding the areas of service we provide just naturally follows from our areas of expertise and interests. For years, Linda has been heavily involved with Food.  In addition to the various school garden projects described here earlier, she’s been on the Planning Committee for the Montgomery County Food Summit that is now in its 4^th year.

Held on November 7^th, this all day event brought together food producers, consumers, gardener and local officials from government such as the health department.  This year’s theme was “Connecting Producers to Consumers ~ From our farms...to our tables”.  Two hundred attendees heard from twenty local presenters, representing all aspects of food production and distribution, on everything from CSA’s to Food Hub models to offering services like EBT and SNAP at Farmers’ Markets. 

We were also treated to a very entertaining and insightful talk by Don Carmody with the Detroit Eastern Market.  Comm. Judy Dodge’s office has spearheaded this event with the goal of increasing the Locally Grown Foods marketplace and growing that economy.  I have been so fortunate to be involved with this up and coming group and this year I was tapped to be the photographer! Check out the great photos!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fxvzx8j6e52papa/AABJhYT5-D22ms5Y9RtZv3c3a?dl=0

The other area of growth is school and community gardens.  Think of this TE service area as us working both inside and outside the school building to enhance the learning of everyone – students, teachers and administrators, parents and members of the community.  Greening doesn’t stop at the door and sustainability isn’t just about energy efficiency.  The integrated nature of gardening touches on everything from plant life cycles, why we need to compost food waste (and waste less food!), the living nature of soil, water use, biodiversity and the list just goes on and on.

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Of course I already have a tremendous amount of knowledge about plants, food and gardening but one can always learn more.  The day after the Food Summit, I attended a School Garden workshop presented by Five Rivers Metro Parks.  What a great group of like-minded teacher participants.  Much to learn, much to do, much to bring to our customers, too!

As winter commences, Linda continues to be connected to the Partners for the Environment’s Food Team, the Montgomery County Food Summit group and the Visioning Team for the future Miami Valley Food Hub.  At TE, we just keep on growing – from improving and greening inside facilities to growing and greening outside the buildings too – imagine gardens growing organic food right on hospital or church grounds, business and college campuses and utilizing retail open spaces as garden sites instead of turf to be mowed and sprayed.  Green has many shades and hues, and so many ways to Grow – Grow Green! 

Not that we were stale or standing still . . . Now We’re Updated, Refocused and Refreshed!

Your might say we’ve gone back to our roots, literally. Thumbprint Endeavors LLC is branching out while doubling back to capitalize on our strengths and interests in the environment and education.  We’re by no means moving away from sustainability and Green Building consulting, its just that by addressing the needs of the educational arena, like effective classrooms and engaging school sites, we can do even more to promote healthy green environments.  We are also moving into more projects related to design of outdoor settings like gardens and natural areas.

One recent example is a community service project with East End Community Center and Ruskin School in Dayton.  This nearly 1000 sq. foot garden was made possible with donations and grant monies for plant materials and installation of a water pump.

Linda designed a Learning Garden site plan for this empty city lot, selecting appropriate hardy plant materials (over 115 in all – trees, bushes, perennials and bulbs) to give the site year-round interest in all directions.  Extensive site prep, planting and laying out four raised beds for vegetables and wheelchair accessible walkways took several weeks.

To their credit, our group of hardy volunteers hung in there, encountering at least a million rocks of varying shapes and sizes and with days of rain and even more rain! Before and after pictures are already stunning and next year will be even better. Linda is really looking forward to working with the Ruskin teachers to help them learn about the garden and how to best utilize this space to educate K-8 students about growing plants and healthy foods.

She has also been working with a team to begin the process of converting the WSU Campus Community Garden and nearby areas into a large Pollinator Garden, hopefully complete one day with beehives.  The goal is to plant particularly delectable perennials to attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators while providing a colorful natural oasis on campus.

Extending the Circle, Moving Forward

Given Linda’s environmental science expertise, love of plants and gardening and knowledge of construction, this expansion was anticipated by those who know her. Her extensive background and experience allows Linda to consult both inside buildings and out. 

This year Linda has been happy to serve on the Advisory Committee for the 4th Annual Dayton Food Summit which will convene on Friday November 7th -- Be sure to register!  In addition to Local Food-related projects and developing community gardening projects, she has been involved with creating nature trails, outdoor play areas, and “Safe Routes to School and Play” initiatives so parents, teachers, and children can be more active and healthier. 

At Thumbprint Endeavors, we continue to find ways to reach out and extend all of our fingers to grasp Sustainability, particularly focusing on healthy communities, neighborhood development and schools.  

Environmental and Educational Consulting

Two Hats on One Head

We all wear many hats these days but in this case, it makes perfect sense. Thumbprint Endeavors, which started out as Educational Consulting firm in 1993, is returning to its roots -- Environmental and Educational Consulting. During my 30+ years in education, I have employed a wide range of active teaching and learning methodologies including field trips, hands-on activities, inquiry, project-based learning and recently, I've explored the innovative “flipped classroom” approach. Students have changed and so must the pedagogy we use in order to create the successful life-long learners for this rapidly changing world.

Not only have I acquired depth and breadth over time and in many locations, I also have gained extensive knowledge of educational facilities. For three years prior to graduate school, I worked for Dodge Reports in Cincinnati.  Talk about an education! McGraw Hill made sure that all of their Construction News Reporters had extensive training prior to hitting the streets to compile information for the Dodge Reports.  Then there was the continuing on-the-job training that took place as I talked everyday with architects, engineers, planners, and project managers on construction sites. Add that to acting as my own GC on a couple of new houses and several major renovation projects.

Then more recently serving as Project Liaison for the New Classroom Building at Wright State. Again working with architects and engineers through all phases of plan development, gathering information from campus users, meeting with instructional and technology consultants, right up to and including weekly construction progress meetings in the site trailer. More OTJ training and I love it.  Of course, the icing on the cake for me is that the building will be LEED certified, what level is yet to be determine but we are hoping for Gold.

So, I think you'll agree that it is very appropriate that I wear both my Education hat and my Environmental hat to tap into my wealth of knowledge to benefit students and teachers, on all levels. My mission with consulting with clients in the areas of Education and Educational Environments is to utilize my expertise to create optimal learning facilities that are Green, healthy facilities coupled with Best Practices in teaching and learning.

Give me a call or send an me email so we can get started!  Thanks.  

Branching Out

Sometimes taking a new direction is a really good thing.  I recently attended my third Writer’s Workshop because I want to create an outlet for the many pieces of writing that I’ve produced over the years.  I also did a presentation last Saturday at the 47^th annual Environmental Education Council of Ohio conference. These two things are related because while thinking about my topic of what motivates environmental educators and sustainability folks, I had to do some self-reflection as well.  We often go through our busy day-to-day lives with little time or energy to pause and reflect on the question of why? And by the same token, what keeps us passionate about our work? 

Of course, I’ve written several research articles over the years, (publish or perish in academia) and the last couple of articles in the Journal of Sustainability Education have been on a topic near and dear to my heart, getting children outside to explore and play in nature.  The hope of course is in doing that, their parents will also learn to appreciate and value nature and help to preserve natural spaces.  In researching 300+ responses from adults, the drastic contrast of how they spent their playtime as children is sadly different from the so-called play of today’s kids. 

So, in addition to my consulting and sustainability work, I want to write.  I want to write stories to encourage outdoor play. I want to write books, particularly fiction, with underlying sustainability and conservation themes woven in with characters that are healthy, emotionally and physically and truly connected and engaged in their real-world community, not merely in an electronic social media realm.

With this new adventure, I know I will need help and support as I learn the ropes.  In the workshops I’ve attended, they emphasize that finding an agent and getting published is very, very difficult.  I have to believe that where there is a will, there is a way.  So, please, send names and contact information if you have anyone in the world of publishing.  Many Thanks and Go Green!  We ALL thank you.