BETHEL — The garden has been put to bed for the winter, but the season is not really done.
At Telstar Middle/High School, students have helped renovate an old greenhouse to start seedlings sometime during late winter.
The Greenhouse of Telstar, or GOT for short, brought together dozens of community members to help put the building back into shape, said Melissa Prescott, an art teacher and one of the organizers of the student gardening program.
A $5,000 grant from Lowe’s Hardware helped pay for the greenhouse renovation, a small solar electricity and bike generator system to power it, and enhanced energy education at the school.
Prescott and Sarah Savage, a special education teacher in the district, started the school gardening project just last year.
So far, they have grown lots of vegetables that have been used in the school cafeteria or shared with the local food pantry.
In September, the student group hosted a Fantastic Food Frenzy, a public supper with some of the student-grown vegetables used.
The group has also toured other educational gardens, including one at Gould Academy, the 4-H camp in Bryant Pond, the Alan Day Community Garden in Norway, the acre-sized school garden at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, and the Mountain Valley Middle School garden in Mexico.
“The whole effort is sustainability,” Prescott said.
Student will take seeds home next year to start them on windowsills.
“When it’s too cold to do any gardening, we’ve dressed up as fruits and vegetables and became a giant board game.”
Kate Slattery, a sixth-grade teacher who also helps with the gardening effort, said the group will focus on composting and adding it to their curriculum.
Savannah Belisle, one of the core group of students who has tended the garden, and now the composting and greenhouse, likes the idea of helping to supply the school cafeteria.
“We’ve grown tomatoes and cucumbers for school cafeteria salads,” she said.
She, other students, and many community members, including some from the Western Mountains Senior College, helped care for the garden over the summer.
Prescott was particularly grateful during the greenhouse renovation project last month for the help provided by local contractor Dave Berry and his crew who headed up the work.
Along with the greenhouse now ready for the next gardening season, Savage is experimenting with hydroponic gardening (using nutrients rather than soil) with her classes, and the school’s outside garden is expected to triple in size.
The entire gardening effort got its start from a U.S. Cooperative Extension grant of $2,000 a year for five years.
A core group of about 15 students regularly participate. They are often helped by nearly 200 teachers, other students and community members.
“We’re preparing kids for the time when they will be leaders in a sustainable way,” Prescott said.
Supporting Sponsor for the Advertiser Democrat
Keeping communities informed by supporting local news. norwaysavings.bank
Comments are no longer available on this story