Election Section

“Here comes the big scream,” said Kate Obenour. Just outside the garden at Arts Magnet, Rupert Lopez, the reading teacher, stood on one side of the fence holding a long hose. On the other side was a large crowd of students, almost everyone in the yard. Mr. Lopez flipped the nozzle and a fan of water sprayed over the kids. The scream rose. “Yesterday, I heard that scream three blocks away while I was home for lunch,” said Kate. The kids were now waving their arms, and jumping up and down, begging for more. “Are we having fun or what?” asked Kate. 

The big scream has been happening at Arts Magnet since Kate revived the garden at Arts Magnet Elementary School, some seven years ago. “Before we revived the garden, there weren’t hoses or anything out here,” she said. Kate Obenour is a lawyer with the firm Miller, Clark, Calvert & Obenour, located across from Berkeley High School. Starting when her daughter was in third grade at Arts Magnet, Kate has been volunteering every Wednesday, working with students to build the garden, island by island. On many a Wednesday, she’s joined by another parent, Kim Shaefer, who is head of Arts Magnet’s PTA.  

Each garden island is surrounded by concrete or asphalt. There are the day lilies and the bird bath right in front of the school. Three foot strips of irises, fruit trees, and flowering bulbs line both sides of the walkway along the east side. Across the asphalt yard, in a corner next to the jungle gym, are a dozen small raised beds with carrots, chard, cabbage, kale, peas, lettuce, and other vegetables. Kate grows enough pumpkins in the fall to make pumpkin pie for the whole school. Once a year, she makes salad fixings for 300 kids. All of it comes from the garden, except for the dressing. 

The school calls these gardens “Kate’s Gardens,” but Kate titles herself “Chief Weeder.” Dressed in jeans, a purple “Dirt First” T-shirt, a big straw hat and boots, Kate says that when she comes she’s dressed for survival. “Got to keep up with the kids when I’m here.” On Wednesday morning, she fills her wheelbarrow with tools and supplies. On the very top, she puts two chickens into a cat carrying case, and wheels all of it three blocks to school. The two chickens, Queenie, a crested polish bantam, and Sultan, a bantam originating from Iran, roam free on Wednesdays. When the first group of students come out, they receive a chicken anatomy talk. They see Queenie’s blue ears and her brown eyes. They pat her feet. They touch her nails. When it’s time to weed, Kate plops Queenie into a garden bed, and urges the students to dig up the weeds and look for worms. The students, with great gusto, dig up the entire bed, hand feeding roly polys and earthworms to Queenie. Soon, the entire bed has been weeded. For a snack, they pull and eat carrots from the garden. While washing off the dirt, they loudly complain about how disgusting the dirty carrots are and then eat every carrot and ask for more. 

The next group of students move into the Poetry Garden, a garden built with a grant from the City of Berkeley to honor Alan Ginsburg who lived on Milvia Street, across from the school, once upon a time. In one corner stands a pond with goldfish and mosquito fish. Kate deftly hands the students plastic cups and asks them to see if they can catch a fish. While they’re at it, she asks each student to scoop out one handful of leaves or garbage that may have drifted into the pond. So, students practice catch and release without realizing they just did a chore.  

Six years ago, Kate and students hand dug the hole for the pond. “Those students are now sophomores at Berkeley High,” she said.  

Over by a large piece of granite, Kavanedeep, a fourth grader says, “We planted this last year, me, Jamail, Elliott and Rashaad,” and carefully tip-toed around the still baby plants. Other students are quietly listening for lizards or checking the passion vine for Red Checker butterfly eggs. 

Kate’s daughter is at Berkeley High, and her son’s in college. When asked what motivates her to continue as the chief weeder at Arts Magnet, Kate said, “I love gardening with kids... Can you imagine what Berkeley will look like in 20 years, all the beautiful gardens from the kids we’re teaching?” 

Back in the vegetable garden, two kindergartners have come in to pet the chickens. “Look,” Kate says, “Sultan has five toes. Can you count to five?” And they both count loudly and vigorously. “Is she ready to lay an egg?” they ask. “Looks like she’s thinking about it,” Kate answered. In the meantime, another lunch shift of students have arrived in the yard. Rupert Lopez turns on the hose. The big scream rises into the warm air.