About Garden Learning

Winter 2019 - Garden learning is now becoming a private photo journal of my gardens. It is a place I can send photos to as I take them in the garden. This blog will now be an extension of my hand written garden journal. My private learning location through photos. An experience for this year in gardening. It may take over my hand written journal - we will see what happens.

Garden Learning WAS a place where I can ask questions, learn about plants, the environment, and the world around me. It is a place to share ideas, experiences and questions from my backyard garden and the local public gardens here in Minnesota like The Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden or the more cultured gardens of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

The Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden garden is part of the Minneapolis Public Park system and had its beginning in 1907. The Mn. Landscape Arboretum was established in 1957 as a research garden connected with the University of Minnesota. Each year people, especially young people visit the gardens to explore, learn, draw, and write. It is exactly what I like to do.

Sometimes it is hard to get to these gardens in person or to know what to do when we get there. Hopefully this blog will bring bits and pieces of the garden to you so that we can learn and enjoy the outdoors even if we can’t walk the trails all the time. My backyard garden is where I do most of my learning. It helps me to put my hands into the soil to really understand what is happening in our natural world.

Things you might find here are: journal activities for writing and drawing, some information about plants and animals, reviews of children’s book (occasionally adult books) that connect to nature and ideas for creating your own garden out in your wild back yard.

I am Joanne Toft. I have retired from teaching elementary school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My focus in teaching was literacy and science - where they blend to support each other and where they stand alone in the knowledge that needs to be learned.

In the past I managed an arts integration program for the schools working with Minneapolis teachers and Community artists to design learning experiences for students using both the arts and other content areas - literacy, math and science - to enhance learning. (Arts for Academic Achievement)

I now walk, take pictures of plants, garden, visit public gardens and write. My interest is in learning through our senses - reading, writing, exploring and creating. I hope you will join me in this learning adventure.

You can also find my thoughts at: https://wordsfromjl.wordpress.com/