GreenApple.org is a worldwide organization run by the U.S. Green Building Council and dedicated to the idea that every child deserves to attend a “green” school with clean, healthy air, conservation of energy and resources, and where children”can be inspired to dream of a brighter future.”
Every year, the organization sponsors a worldwide “Green Apple Day of Service,” which brings together parents, teachers, students, companies and local organizations to help create healthy, safe and productive learning environments through service projects at local schools. This year’s service day will be held this coming Saturday, September 26, and at least two of our local schools are participating.
John Burroughs Middle School will host a crew of volunteers from UCLA, who will be painting college logos on the campus’s basketball backboards…and Wilshire Crest Elementary School will welcome members of the public who would like to learn “slow it, spread it, sink it” techniques for garden irrigation and water conservation, using clay-pot “ollos.”  The ollos, which will be installed in raised beds in the school’s 8,000 square foot farm/student garden, are “ceramic sub-surface mini-cisterns” that hold and seep water slowly to irrigate plants at their roots.  They’re easy to make and can provide simple, easy and effective irrigation for all sorts of gardens and garden beds.  If you’d like to learn more, you can sign up for the Wilshire Crest Green Apple Day of Service project at http://greenapple.org/content/garden-building-water-conservation-slow-it-spread-it-sink-it The event runs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.  In addition to the ollos, volunteers will also be repairing and adding to the drip irrigation systems already installed in the garden.
