Lennoxville Elementary students getting into gardening
Lennoxville Elementary School’s mixed age class has been busy this spring planning, preparing and planting the beds of a new community garden.
“We’ve got strawberries, ground cherries, lemon cucumbers, carrots, potatoes and beets,” said Kari Bryan, one of the students involved with the project, naming just a few of the plants now growing in the school garden. “Everything was basically planted two weeks ago.”
Bryan, joined by classmates Lyana Rodgers, Sienna Ballard, and Michael Henderson, explained that the garden as it appears today is the product of months of work and preparation.
“We started in the winter,”
Henderson said, with Rodgers explaining that, “We separated into groups and all had certain jobs we had to do.”
Where some groups discussed what would be best to plant, others talked about how to arrange the different plots and maintain the garden space.
Although the students have been supported in their research and process by teachers and volunteers, Rodgers shared that the class was involved in every step, from cleaning the yard to building the raised beds themselves.
“We got the supplies and we made them,” she said pointing out the specific boxes that she helped assemble.
“I measured some of the wood,” Ballard said, explaining that afterward the beds were layered with different materials to help provide a good base for the garden.
With only a handful of days left before the end of the school year, the students have had to start planning for what happens to their efforts over the summer. Although they established that a schedule has already been outlined for different families to take turns watering, the project has also brought Karen Dymond on board as a coordinator and facilitator.
“I’m here to help care for the garden over the summer so that it’s not more work falling on a teacher’s hands,” Dymond said, explaining that she first met with the class earlier in the year based on having completed a certificate program in permaculture design. “They had already done a ton of research,” she remarked, reasserting
that her role is to support the initiative and not lead it.
Asked about the summer maintenance, Dymond pointed out that for the most part the students were careful to pick plants that will only produce in the spring or fall. She also said that in addition to the regular watering schedule, she will be on site on Tuesday evenings for anyone looking to drop in and care for the beds.
“The vision is, over time, to invite more of the school to be involved,” she said, noting that some of the outreach and cooperation was delayed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
When it comes to the fruits and vegetables being grown, Bryan said that the goal is for them to feed back into the school community through the cafeteria, when it is allowed to reopen.
“It’s something we’re going to pass on,” she said, speaking both of the food grown and of the fact that many of the seeds and saplings sown this year will only really get established in the years to come.
“They have worked really hard,” Dymond added, noting that the class’ understanding of the garden space goes beyond simply a place to grow plants. “They also recognized that gardens are a place of beauty and calm and peace, and something that can build up an actual community.”