Albert Risemberg is the Gulfport Grandpa.
Abby Baker
He’s been called “Garden Claus” and “the garden gnome,” but Albert Risemberg prefers his title as Gulfport’s Garden Grandpa.
The 61-year-old Gulfport resident teaches his nature classes monthly on the outdoor patio of the Gulfport Public Library. He’s brought jars of earthworms, a sealed container of bees, and sprouting roots, all with the intent of teaching something not found in the classroom.
Former youth librarian Cailey Klasson invited him to teach a worm class as part of her weekly science club back in January. He showed up with a cowboy style hat and a coat full of fake bugs to really wow the kids.
Despite the science club ending due to Klasson’s resignation, Garden Grandpa stuck around. The “grandpa” status came after his first class, and he welcomed it.
“I didn’t have access to my grandparents growing up, a lot of people don’t, when I’m teaching here in Gulfport I say ‘I can be your grandpa if you don’t have one,” Risemberg said.
Despite having two sons but no grandchildren of his own, Risemberg fits the bill with his silver beard and ability to break into song and story at any moment.
“My oldest son jokes, ‘this isn’t legit, you’re not really a grandpa,” Risemberg said. “I just say ‘yeah, you should hurry up and make it legit’.”
When his sons were growing up, Risemberg pulled them out of Boy Scouts, put off by the amount of religion in the organization. He wanted them to learn about nature and respect for wildlife without bias.
Despite working the heavy schedule of an airplane mechanic, Risemberg took them camping, taught them lessons, and recorded “Daddy Stories” on cassettes. The tapes were recordings of him telling his two sons the stories of the day.
“Martin had to go to the dentist, so the story was ‘The Shark with the Toothache,’ it was everything that happened to him that day but through the eyes of whatever animal I chose,” he said. “They would get some good lessons through that.”
He’s bringing that same energy to the kids in Gulfport, and he’s no stranger to teaching.
On the first Monday of every month, Gulfport’s ‘Garden Grandpa’ makes an earthly appearance.
Abby Baker
The local farmer taught one semester of yoga at Gulfport Elementary and also 700 students at Frontier Elementary School. He hosts earthworm farming classes from his home and founded Gulfport’s Moon Landing Yoga.
Most kids love the demonstrations, but a few are really stuck on the idea of farming and sustainability. One student lives down the street from the Garden Grandpa, and his mother buys honey from the Gulfport farmer.
Risemberg was blown away when he knew all the answers in his class.
“Something about the way he was speaking you can tell he was really thinking about what I was teaching,” Risemberg said. “You never know what’s going to spark in a kid.”
On May 2, he focused on teaching the importance of roots.
“I brought ginger because it’s tangible, kids may not know the ginger root but they know Ginger Ale, ginger cookies,” Risemberg said. “Life comes from roots; they should know that.”
Next up, he’ll teach about shells, complete with a conch-blowing demonstration, which isn’t completely out of the ordinary for the Garden Grandpa.
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