Planting The Seeds Of Education

By Steve Bonanno

Thanks to the efforts of Sandy Hook School parents, students, and faculty, a wide variety of vegetables are growing in the “SHS CARES Garden,” located in the school’s middle outdoor area.

The garden is overseen by second grade teacher Dawn Ford and math and science specialist Kris Feda, as well as participating students and school families.

The vegetables growing in the garden include squash, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, peppers, watermelon, basil, tomatoes, eggplant, and celery.

“Most of the vegetables were grown from seeds,” said Ms Ford, “but some of the plants, like the tomato plants, were grown from little seedlings.”

The plants occupy the space of three raised garden beds that were purchased as kits from Home Depot using money donated by the Sandy Hook Parent Teacher Association. Garret Henchcliffe of Top Notch Landscaping donated a whole truckload of soil to fill the garden beds.

The garden also has an Aeroponic Tower Garden, which was donated by Sandy Hook resident Peter Daprile. The tower garden is a closed system aeroponic tower that can grow plants without soil.

The vegetables were planted in mid-June before school ended. Flyers were sent out to get families involved with the project and on planting day there were 15 students helping as well as some of their parents.

“Many hands made for easy work on planting day,” said Ms Feda.

There is a schedule put in place for different students and families to come to the school throughout the week to water and weed the garden.

Weeds taken from the garden are put in a compost heap, which is part of a third grade project.

Ms Ford explained that the garden is in some way relevant to all the grades’ different science programs.

Ms Ford and Ms Feda held a Garden Party on July 11. At the event, rising fourth grader Daniel Jaeger and his eighth grade brother Tim watered plants and helped paint a sign for the garden. The sign read “SHS CARES Garden.”

A flyer was also sent home to invite families to attend the Garden Party.

Daniel said that he has been helping with the garden for a few weeks and likes watering the plants.

Since the garden was started many of the plants have matured, and some are ready for harvest.

“We’ve already harvested some of the radishes,” said Ms Ford, “and we will harvest the rest of the vegetables as they become ready over time.”

Once the vegetables are harvested they will be donated to the FAITH Food Pantry of St John’s Episcopal Church at 5 Washington Avenue, Sandy Hook.

As the garden prospers, Ms Feda and Ms Ford said they have plans to keep the project growing throughout the next school year.