This community should be very, very proud of itself
Well the Knowlton Academy outdoor garden is just about done for the year but we will be keeping very busy indoors in the garden club working on projects and decorations for the garden, cooking and getting ready for the spring while incorporating garden related projects in the classrooms. There are a few things left to plant and a few things left to pull out and one last stone project in the works with Craig Heath but it’s pretty much a wrap outdoors for the growing for the year. And what an amazing year it was!
There are so many people to thank: Tara Moar and Matthew Greer who fundraised in the Virgin Hill airstream for us during Brome Fair. Debi Mason Poirier who built us an outdoor classroom in the garden with her tables, all the moms who came every Tuesday to do garden snacks with us, all the people who picked up and transported stuff for us, donated stuff, worked in the gardens, built things for us. To Jason Lahue who gave us enough garlic to plant 1,500 heads so provided us with a fundraiser, thank you! Tasha-marie Chubbyy, Justin Jacques, Kasandra Julien Charby and her husband Chris who replaced our stolen water tanks, what generosity! Tracy Wing who planted our memorial perennial garden, Dr. Michel Delorme, world renowned bat specialist, who gave an amazing bat workshop. Jackie Mcgovern and Rose Highfield for the gazillion carrots that were probably the biggest hit of the season. The students ate carrots for their Tuesday veggie snack for seven weeks solid, Kirra and her pals pulled the last of them out just last week for a munch when we were cleaning some stuff up. Judy Martin and Penny Charby who gave us two freezers after I started collecting veggies from people’s gardens for the cafeteria. And Sheila Perry who always lent us our amazing gang of Secondary 1 students when we needed extra help hauling and building. Thanks to them too — it’s been an absolute delight working with those kids. And to Wanda Willis for being game about my food collection idea and dealing with all of the produce I dumped on her for the cafeteria.
We collected about 170 pounds of food for the cafeteria, we built bat boxes, we planted all kinds of things. This year was a huge success thanks to so many. These are the people who made this happen: Shane Imhoff, Abigail Allen Tryhorn, Melissa Elston, Shelley Mizener, Stephanie Goyette, Jen Wykes, Steven W. Call, Ange Jones, Nina Lavigne, Scoobie Davies, Lisa Laro, Jessica Fleury, Pascal Burnham, Jess Cousens, Justin Cuplinskas, Jeff Page, Oliver Blampin, Craig Foster, Derek Burcombe, Wayne Tryhorn, Nelsha Fontaine, Barry Dwyer, Kirk Royea, Chris Muir, Donald Langois, Gorden Marr, Beloit St. Pierre, Nancy Mccullough Stuart Mcleod, Graham Harrison, Chris Harrison, Stephanie Marks, Barbara B-g, Liza Norton, Shelley Judge, and Ross Ann Rizora, Corey Smith, Annie Butler, Ann Davidson, Richard Gagnon, Judith Duncanson, Tanya Bardati, Stéphane Bessette, Heidi Neil, Lee Mosher, Emily Broadbent, Judy Martin, Helene Dubuc, and Penny Charby. That’s a lot of people. And that’s not including all the people who dropped off pots and tools and perennials, and I don’t know who you are, and all of the people who have made private financial contributions. There are probably well over 100 people involved.
A special thanks to my cohort and cocoordinator Jen Harrison, Susan Muir, and our principal Renalee Gore who lets me think outside the box and lets me run with all my crazy ideas, whether it be finding room to put two freezers I got because I collected 100 pounds of rhubarb and zucchini and needed somewhere to put it, or when I wanted to run 250 feet of hose to spray down 240 kids and serve them ice cream during a heat wave, or when I suddenly needed to build 120 feet of beds to plant garlic.
This was a big job but it felt easy because every time we needed something we threw it out there and you gave it to us. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. You gave us plants, you gave us time, expertise, seeds, manpower, tools, water tanks, delivery services, freezers, food, tables and chairs, security options and so much more. You gave us a garden.
We will see you outside in the garden next spring!
Co-coordinator Knowlton Academy Greenhouse and Garden Project (The K.A. Secret Garden)