Fall mum sale begins
St. Marys FFA members are giving community members a chance to get in the fall spirit while also putting what they learned in the classroom to work. Several members are selling mums to help people decorate for fall but the work for the sales began months ago when students started growing the plants from small starts, known as plugs.
The annual mum sale is one of many supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs) students can participate in.
“Though this, we’re able to experience what it was like to make sure we’re watering properly and fertilizing properly, monitoring how the plants were doing,” said senior FFA member Lucy Spencer. “It lets us practice those agricultural skills but then the other part of the project is interacting with people as our customers and getting the experiences we wouldn’t otherwise get in the classroom.”
In addition to mums, Spencer added a few homegrown pumpkins to the mix and quickly learned that she would need more supply to meet the demand from the community.
“I posted about the pumpkins on Facebook over the weekend and I already sold out of them,” she said. “We just had a small pumpkin patch in our backyard that I grew them in so
there weren’t bunches of them available but I was amazed at how quickly they sold.”
With the pumpkin supply consumed, Spencer is helping her sister, Charley, and their classmates MacKenzie Ott and Bailey Snyder sell the mums they have left. Colors of mums range from bronze and yellow to purple and red.
Spencer said the mums she and her sister are selling are $5 each with all funds raised going toward the girls’ state FFA degrees.
They started with 100 combined mums but supply is starting to run low for the sisters.
Other students have also been having success selling the plants.
To order mums, contact the St. Marys FFA or any of the students who are participating in the sale.