b'eating mangoes in January and straw- choosing what to plant and how to nurture it. berriesinFebruary.WecouldntThis summer, the school is including the garden in its day camp program, plantstrawberriesrightnow,theywelcoming children from Maplewood and South Orange to join in the fun. wouldntsurvive,saysGottlieb.More details can be found at farbrook.org. ThecostofgettingthosethingsAmy Lynn-Cramer is a contributing writer for Matters Magazine and the founder here is not just about human labor,of Cramer Connect. A culture changer at heart, she specializes in marketing and its also about fuel. And so we talkcommunications and is a certified health and life coach. Amys moments of Zen about it. Its OK if we dont all agreeand reflection are spent in her own garden, tending to her herbs and succulents.with one another.WhenEssexCountyfaceda drought last fall and wildfires were rampant,theschoolnavigatedthe challenge of keeping the garden wa-tered. After an in-depth discussion, thechildrenagreedthateveryoneFirst Grade students measure green could fill up their watering can twicebeans, harvesting them when they but that they must work together toreached a certain length.distribute the water evenly across the garden, says Gottlieb. They were care-ful to make sure that they didnt drip any water and that it only went into the cans and onto the vegetables. Nothing was accidental. The carrots didnt get any more water than the kale.This spring marks a new chapter. Robert Olazagasti, the schools art inte-gration specialist, is in the process of curating a student art installation, de-signed to extend into the garden, seamlessly blending creativity with nature.The kids are thrilled to get back in the garden, says an enthusiastic Gottlieb. Theres an incredible sense of pride, not just in what their grade Nursery 4 students in the garden with one of their teachers, Nick Hamel. They is growing but in the garden as a whole. Every month, Toby Adams fromlearned about planting seeds and then measuring their growth over time. This Kaleidoscope visits the school to collaborate with each class, guiding them incomplemented their learning in the classroom.INDEPENDENT LIVINGASSISTED LIVINGMEMORY CARERESPITECOME AWARD-WINNINGVISITOUR SENIOR COMMUNITYCall Today: (201) 298-0211JCHCorp.org/LesterYour Home. Your Life. Your Journey.feature story /15'