Furthering a Club goal to deepen relationships with organizations receiving Club funding, a small team mounted three Screech Owl boxes in trees surrounding the garden at Chet F. Harritt School in Santee on Oct. 26, 2024.
Earlier this year the Club made a $1,500 grant to San Diego Ag in the Classroom, a nonprofit with a mission to teach children where their food comes from, the importance of San Diego's agriculture sector, and to inspire them to participate as growers and consumers of local produce. The Club was connected to Pam, the tireless garden champion at Harritt school, who transformed the school's teaching garden over the past two years and wished to have owl boxes installed as natural pest control.
A small team was formed with just the right attributes: Ron Rice brought tall ladders from his painting company, and identified safe placement spots, Ivan Alba provided the "aerial support" needed to affix the boxes to the trees, and Andrew Kleske advised on all things owl box, including tree placement and how to coat the inside of each box's roof with dish soap to deter nesting bees. The team joined a dedicated garden crew of adults and children at the school to get the project completed.
The children thanked the Club members and presented them with owl keychains as a memento of the project. They promised to let us know if any Screech Owls are spotted nesting in the boxes next spring. They also took the group photos for us!
One parent volunteer said, "Thank you for making this dream come true!"
We in turn say "thank you" to the committed volunteers who dedicate themselves to creating school and communities gardens to teach us how to be more self-sufficient and mindful of the miracle of being able to grow our own food.
