In 2003, Debbie Krenek, the 5th grade lead science teacher and Vivian Cardoso, a special needs teacher, began
dreaming of enhancing the outdoor areas around this suburban elementary school campus with teaching aids
that would enable the students to learn science, math, and nature on a first hand basis. With encouragement
from OFE Principal, Marty Bragg, they began to recruit parents and community members to make their dreams
begin to come true at the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year. Vivian was able to secure the help of
well-known Kingwood Naturalist, Damien Carey, to begin a Nature Club for the students. The Nature Club
consists of dedicated students who come to school early to pull weeds, watering by hand all of the many small
trees that have been planted, keeping all the bird feeders full, bird bath clean and filled with water and, sweep
and pick up trash on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the students have a
science lesson with Mrs. Cardoso and Mr. Carey. The kids are also in charge of the cell-phone and ink cartridge
recycling program. About the same time, Vivian was able to recruit Jo Sanders, a Harris County Master
Gardener and retired teacher to take on the task of starting a vegetable garden. Allison Wolf, a first grade
teacher at OFE talked with her father about plowing a piece of dirt on the south side of the building. And dirt it
was! The plan was to have each 5th grade science class work in the garden about 45 minutes every other
week. Somehow, Mrs. Krenek, Jo, and the kids did manage to have a harvest that year! Mr. Wolf has been an
ardent supporter since the beginning; plowing, bringing us loads of horse manure, buying garden plants and
nutrients, and even giving us a supply of worms to populate our garden. Vivian received a grant from the
Humble ISD Education Foundation to fund the first irrigation system. It brought water to the Arboretum,
Vegetable Garden and a drip system to the Orchard.
Shortly after Damien began his role in the Nature Club at Oak Forest, he suggested to Vivian that she contact
Gudrun Opperman, a Kingwood Horticulturist, to help identify plants on campus. Gudrun also was invaluable in
making suggestions of native plants that could be added to return the land to those species that most likely
were on the property prior to building the school. Gudrun also was able to suggest plants that would encourage
wildlife back to the campus, specifically feeding the birds and butterflies. With Gudrun came her husband, Hal,
a recently retired ExxonMobil employee and a lifelong vegetable gardner. With the two of them came a new
source of funding, the ExxonMobil VIP Grant Program. Within limits, for every 20 hours worked for the
educational or charitable organization by an employee, retiree, or spouse, ExxonMobil will contribute $500.00 to
a school. In the meantime, Vivian had talked to the nearby Lowe's store into building a fence around the
vegetable garden and putting edging around the bed to raise it somewhat. On a hot March morning, a group of
volunteers showed up to tear the typical sterile landscaping out of the bed in the front of the school, raise them
with timbers and plant butterfly friendly plants. Our butterfly gardens have become the focal point of every
student since. Each caterpillar and chrysalis is carefully watched until the butterfly emerges and begins its
journey in life.
During the 2004-2005 school year, Vivian received another grant for the Outdoor Classroom. The grant was for
additional sprinklers, a podium, benches, interpretative signs for the Arboretum, plants and clipboards for the
students. We began calling ourselves "The Growers of Oak Forest". A slogan was adopted. We grow minds,
plants and critters". Other new projects that we tackled that year included building a perimeter bed around the
outside of the vegetable garden. We also built a western style cedar fence along the edge of the new natural
area we began to develop. On another hot Saturday, we tore out some additional landscape beds and replanted
them with hummingbird friendly plants. With Gudrun's Master Gardener connection, she was able to start a
bucket garden for the Kindergarteners. And finally, we designated an area for an orchard and planted a few
species. One of the best new teaching tools for the 5th graders that year was a crude compost heap that
enabled us to begin recycling weeds, spent plants and other organic waste back into the garden. Another long
time vegetable gardener and retired ExxonMobil Chemist, Harry McMullin, joined the group that year to help
with the vegetable garden. Harry quickly became known as "Mr. Safety to the 5th graders as he began every
class with a safety lesson. With Harry's volunteering also came some additional money from the ExxonMobil
VIP program.
During the 2005-2006 school year, we began the year with the workday the weekend before school started.
Ken Sanders, Jo's husband, had volunteered to supervise the construction of a tool shed for the various garden
projects. Ken is a retired accountant but loves to build things. Hal applied for a $1500 Team Grant through
ExxonMobil to fund the cost of the shed. Vivian Cardoso was able to talk to Lowe's into giving us a 25% discount
on materials and also in getting the local Ace Hardware, Alspaugh's, to donate the paint for the project. With a
team of about 40 volunteers, including 15 from ExxonMobil, we were able to build the shed at Ken's "ranch"
and move it to the garden on that Saturday. Prior to that, all of our supplies and tools were kept inside the
school. You can imagine the custodians with all the mud and dirt we tracked in!
The new shed brought with it some additional real estate that was crying to be landscaped. What better way
then to plant a lemon, orange and grapefruit tree near it? The new walkway to the shed left a perfect bed along
the school wall to put in an herb bed. In a naturally protected corner, we planted a banana tree. We now have
two compost heaps, but are planning several more. The beginning of the school year also brought a new
addition to the school. Portable buildings! The growing neighborhoods had filled Oak Forest beyond planned
capacity and during the summer two buildings were brought in to hold four classrooms. Principal, Marty Bragg,
asked the group to consider doing something to help to integrate these big buildings into the campus. Vivian
Cardoso again visited Lowe's and was able to convince them into being a good neighbor by donating the
materials and labor to build large planters that Gudrun had designed in front of the portables. The Growers are
funding the plants and maintenance to make this area, too, into a butterfly and hummingbird haven. A parent
and PTA member, Michelle Bennett, joined the group and took on the Kindergarten Bucket garden. One other
project she and another parent, Renee Richardson, decided to take on was beautification of the area around
the marquee sign on the corner of the school. With lots of manual labor on their part, and some donated
building stone materials, a newly planted and landscaped marquee now greets students, parents and visitors
as they approach the school. Michelle brought another secret weapon with her when she joined the group. Her
husband is an ExxonMobil employee, thus gaining additional funding for our projects. During the year, it became
apparent that we needed to upgrade the sprinkler system around many of our plantings and add new lines to
the areas that were not being irrigated. New lines were added to the beds around the portable buildings, around
the garden shed, and in the Natural area where we decided to add seating in an Outdoor Classroom setting.
Teachers are now able to take a whole class out to this area to give the students a closer look at nature. Other
enhancements during the year included a weather station and a Martin Bird House donated to the school by
Damien and his wife, Caroline. Damien also began a recycling program for cell phones and batteries which has
helped to keep these things out of the landfill as well as act as source of funding for the group. As our
programs have grown, we have had to work hard to recruit additional volunteers to maintain our instructional
programs as well as maintain all of the new areas we have developed. At the end of the school year, Vivian
Cardoso was successful in obtaining a grant from the Humble ISD Education Foundation to finish the Outdoor
Classroom in our natural area
During the 2006-2007 school year our progress continued and we gained a new partner. During the summer,
we joined Urban Harvest, became an affiliated school, and attended the summer Outdoor Classroom
workshop. While we had done pretty well , we did made mistakes along the way that may have not happened
had we been a member from the start.
At the beginning of the school year we did some recruitment and fund raising at Falcon Fest. Several new
parents volunteered to help the Growers and we gained some needed funds for operating expenses. Other
projects accomplished during the year, included a major rebuild of the Kindergarten area by Jack and Diana
Harris and Rachelle and Gerald Casey. Mrs. Opperman began tending to the beds around the Marquee and also
finished up some planting in the Nature Area. Mrs. Bragg found money somewhere to build a privacy fence in
the Nature Area so that traffic noise would not be such a distraction in the out door learning center there. In the
Fifth Grade Vegetable Garden, Mr. Opperman built raised beds which helped with weed control and watering.
Ken Sanders built the workbench table that sits in front of the Little Red Shed. In the spring on Arbor Day in
addition to the 5th graders planting their tree, we help a work day when parents and other volunteers put
permanent plant tags next to over 100 species of trees and shrubbs on Campus. And finally, with a number of
donations several mothers were able to set up the Nature Corner in the Library. Here students can read nature
books and check out the displays.
During the 2007 – 2008 school year, two separate ExxonMobil workdays were held. The first enabled us to
complete the large composting area near the Little Red Shed. Here students recycle fruit and vegetable scraps
from the cafeteria as well as all weeds and discarded plants from the various beds around campus. The rich
compost is used in the gardens to enrich the soil and mulch around new plants. The second workday project
held in March enabled us to complete the Western Cedar fence along the East parking area defining the buffer
between the school and the new shopping area to the east. Don Withrow and his crew from HISD were a great
help with this project. During the summer before classes began, Jack and Diana Harris began working on the
First Grade Rainbow garden. Jack was able to obtain donations for much of the materials to build this beautiful
addition. This garden is a combination of vegetables, herbs, and flowers where each first grade class is
exposed to nature and gardening. Each class has a volunteer mother who helps the teacher when a garden
hour is planned. Big changes took place in the Orchard area this school year. The ongoing destruction of the
woods east of the school enabled us to obtain a donation from Sundance Construction Company the general
contractor. With that money we were able to add over 125 trees along the east buffer area. Kingwood Country
Club donated their grounds crew and supervisors to plant the trees and mulch them. Leber and Associates
added drip irrigation to each of the trees. The students, parents, and volunteers collected and spread over 800
bags of leaves and pine needles to mulch this area and help restore it to a natural look. In the orchard, Laura
Webster from the Omni Yoga Studio brought her crew to remove the weeds and grass around all the trees,
spread landscape cloth, and mulch and fertilize all the trees. The orchard began to look like an orchard. Two
new community volunteers began volunteering at the school. Terry Simmons is a retired teacher and Master
Naturalist. Rosemary Sullivan is a practicing attorney and loves to garden. They have been a great addition to
the Growers.
As we add planted areas to the campus at Oak Forest, the need for volunteers and funds to keep up these
areas continues to grow. We have a long list of projects that we would like to accomplish in the months ahead.
These can only be accomplished with generous contributions from parents and the community.
If you are interested in being a part of the group please call Vivian Cardoso at 281-641-2800 or email her at
vivian.cardoso@humble.k12.tx.us.
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