Knowlton Academy garden building bee a success
Raised beds await the busy hands of students
In stark contrast to the nasty, bone chilling temperature that forced almost everyone back into winter wear this past Saturday, the weather-maidens cooperated for the ambitious multi-generation volunteers who came out on Sunday to help build the framework for 13 raised gardens on the grounds of Knowlton Academy in TBL.
Grandparents, parents and students convened in the early morning sun donning tools, and heavier equipment and lots of yummy refreshments for the day ahead. They went home at the end of the day with blisters, dirt under their fingernails, sore muscles, topped with a bit of over sunning. They carried pride with them for successfully meeting their goal to provide the students with gardens to work in during this school year and forever.
Prior to the building bee students have been working on suggestions for names of the project considering it as the “growing ground,” designing images with their ideas, and nurturing the seeds they have planted in their classrooms that have already sprouted and are awaiting transplant.
Chris Marks, the grandparent of a young student attending the school, reminisced about playing hockey years ago on a rink that was then in the same location as the gardens, while Corey Smith showed some of the youngsters how to use an electric drill and some other tools.
The Knowlton Academy Greenhouse and Garden Project has been strongly embraced by the school community and supported by the Eastern Townships School Board, the Town of Brome Lake, and the MRC Brome-missisquoi. It is being carefully crafted to ensure its longterm presence at the school and within the community and is regarded by the ETSB as a pilot project that could serve as a model for other schools to foster in the future. It is intended to serve as a community-wide activity including regular interaction with the seniors. The goal is to provide the platform for students to connect with nature, develop skills and knowledge that will serve to sustain them in a region that is historically an agricultural zone and currently valued for its eco- and agro tourism. The project intends to provide a hands-on, living laboratory that connects food growing to food preparation.
Money is being raised to cover the cost of the program. A vigorous effort by the organizing committee to raise enough funds to build the greenhouse and to cover the cost of some of the activities along with unforeseen expenses has been underway since last fall. Although there has been a lot of success on this front, to date, half of the approximately $80,000 project has been committed. Once the infrastructure is completed the annual cost of running the “garden to table program” is anticipated to be less dramatic. Thanks to the generosity of Louise Penny and Brome Lake Books, a special fundraising concert in the tent that will be installed in Coldbrook Park, Knowlton, will be held in August to help push the project into place by the time the students return to school. Already the lineup of musical talent is guaranteed a good time for all.