Un/Learnings
Through the Jump and Sprout Program I un/learned my teaching habits. I was fairly tough with kids the first year in the garden rather than letting go and having them discover things for themselves. The kids became very involved and interested when I stopped talking about techniques and soil health and the planting process. I started showing them things like how to pet bumble bees and telling them neat facts like that bumble bees buzz at a C note which releases pollen from the plant. I had them tasting herbs and smelling them and rubbing them. They loved the tarragon because it numbed their tongues. Squishing squash bugs and having them guess what it smells like (apple jolly rancher) is especially fun--and then they go around and squash them. Great pest control!
I also un/learned my leadership style--or at least came to a tough realization about it. I am frustrated easily when others do not work at or near the level that I do. I am hyper-efficient and fast. Several of the workers seemed to spend a lot of hours in the garden and do a quarter of the work I had done. I had let each gardener take up an area to call their own as I felt it was natural to put energy toward areas you're drawn to. However, this left a lot of space open to little or no management. I found myself maintaining these areas, of which I was not fond or excited to do. It was a classic problem of the commons.
Mahara
I got really frustrated during this OP as Mahara's format changed mid-creation. I had to learn anew how to navigate the boxes and therefore spent a lot of time formatting. I still haven't figured out how to attach an image in the new system.
I also got frustrated because a lot of the supported platforms for embedding images (ie. Flickr) weren't working.
Mahara also kept "losing" boxes I had finished in the collection or displaying an "error" page when I went to change the layout of the page.
I find a lot of Mahara is slow to navigate and not straight forward. I hope it will be updated again soon with better configuration.
New skills from this OP
A way to embed photos (if the embed code isn't working, for example) is to copy the HTML code instead of embed and paste it into the source code of the box in your OP (button with the <>). Somehow I discovered that on Firefox you can get the "source code" by clicking on Tools, Web Developer, Page Source. Parts or the whole of the code can be copied (I suggest starting with the whole thing) to embed into the Mahara page. To do this, click on the button with the <> and paste the code. Some websites do not copy well.
Journal and final reflection
I'm so happy to be completing this OP for PCC, the grantors, and next year(s) gardeners. I feel as though I'm abandoning the garden and the staff, but more so the kids of whom I've grown so fond. The half hour drive to the garden was defeating me to the point that I worked only 5 hours a week in the garden instead of 15. I also want to be focusing on my own farm and garden and community. I'm excited to take bits and pieces of the program at PCC to Andover and elsewhere. I look forward to the transitions ahead at PCC and hope this OP has been effective and useful.