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By JOSH STOCKINGER
The Telegraph
A calming fall breeze nestled into the Discovery Garden in Godfrey Saturday as children stuffed red, ripe tomatoes and dirty carrots eagerly into their pockets.
Nearby, two 6-year-old girls played tug-of-war with a clump of weeds destined for a compost heap. Another first-grader stared wondrously at a worm she discovered in rich, dark soil.
Warm sunrays illuminated a garden alive with enthusiasm.
The Rev. Maurice Lange and Devin Peipert beamed, too, as they orchestrated and observed new experiences unfolding all around them.
"A mentor of mine told me, 'If you give people something more beautiful than what they already have, they naturally gravitate toward it,'" Lange said later, resting on a straw bale. "And that is what's
happening here. It's beautiful, it's earthy, it's organic and people are flocking to it."
Lange is a soft-spoken member of the Community Cultivators Board of Directors, which hatched Discovery Garden at La Vista Park from a simple idea in 2002. The garden this year won the Illinois Governor's Hometown
Award in the youth involvement category.
Lange and Peipert, project manager, relaxed Saturday at noon after 21 rambunctious girls from Brownie Troop 30 in Glen Carbon toured the garden. They sat under a dome of hedge posts made from Osage orange tree
branches covered with growing vines. "Magpie," a sleeping black Labrador, basked in shards of sunlight between. Lange's boots and his dirty blue jeans.
The men agreed the garden's sheer simplicity excites its visitors.
"I think, intuitively, they know they're in contact with the Earth and with basic things, such as soil, water, air and food," Lange said of visiting children. "And to have a hands-on knowledge of where
food comes from is very gratifying; it's wonderful, and it makes kids enthusiastic."
Discovery Garden consists of eight raised beds and numerous 'plots for growing fruits and vegetables such as pumpkins, asparagus and strawberries. The beds radiate outward from the domed "shade structure"
in the garden's center, much like sunrays, Lange said.
The garden also contains a compost pile and a "three sisters" area for growing corn, squash and beans for an American Indian example. Groups tour the areas regularly during the summer and fall.
The girls from Troop 30 learned how to pull weeds, water a garden and create a compost pile under the instruction of Lange and Peipert. Sandy Lowe of Glen Carbon, the mother of 6-year-old Olivia, said the girls had
more fun at the garden :than during trips to more elaborate places like the Science Center.
"When we drove up and walked over, it didn't look like much," she said. "But this has been the best field trip ever. It's been hands-on, and they actually interact with each other while they're
learning."
Sue Johnston of Glen Carbon, mother of 6-year-old Tara, said education was the most valued part of the experience.
"They think everything comes from the store," she said, laughing. "A lot of parents today don't have time to have a garden. But these girls see that things grow, and they get to do a lot of hands-on
activities, which are good for their minds."
Peipert said the garden's purpose also is about cultivating ideas of social responsibility.
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The Telegraph/ JIM BOWLING
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Community Cultivators volunteer Jill Mellenthin, far left, gives Collinsville Girl Scout Troop 268 a tour of the Discovery Garden in La Vista Park in
Godfrey during their field trip Saturday afternoon.
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"It teaches a sense that if they want to do something, they can go anywhere and do it with their own two hands," he said. "The general focus is teaching lessons in organic gardening to
teach kids where food comes from - to cultivate the land as well as a sense of social responsibility."
Discovery Garden is funded through Community Cultivators, a nonprofit organization that relies on volunteers and donations from area organizations. It is open daily from dusk
until dawn at La Vista Park on Illinois Route 3 in Godfrey. Groups can schedule free educational tours by calling 781-9911 or e-mailing communitycultivators@hotmail.com.
Godfrey Women's Club, a regular supporter of Community Cultivators, nominated the garden for the Governor's Hometown Award. Judges visited the site in July, but Peipert and Lange didn't learn until September that the
garden had won the prestigious award.
The award acknowledges volunteers across Illinois who work 'to improve their communities in eight categories based on population. Godfrey village
officials, a representative from the Women's club and Community Cultivators volunteers will receive the award during a banquet in November.
Peipert and Lange agreed the award is an honor, but said they have more than awards in sight.
"If we can take this message we have here - the idea of cultivating in the garden - out into other parts of the community, reaching further and further
as we go, then I guess I'll gauge success on those terms," Lange said. "It's gratifying for me because I'm practicing the art of evocation. In other words,
I'm evoking the wonders of the Earth within these kids."
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