By

Jennifer Watenpool,   Fred L Aiken El Sch

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Access to Healthy Foods

The Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend, we received plants and help from local companies to come out and help us begin our teaching garden. The day that school was let out, letters were sent home and volunteers were chosen to tend to the garden all summer. Pictures were taken, food was harvested, and the plants were well cared for. As school began, we as a school harvested veggies and sent them either home or to the cafeteria for lunches. Now that the weather is turning colder, we will prepare for our garden for next season. We will start our seeds in February and begin planting in May again.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Students and adults worked together filling the raised beds with dirt and planting the plants. Parents and their children came up all summer long to water, weed, and harvest the garden.

How do you plan to make this Play last during the school year and beyond?

We are trying to make this Play last all year. The only months we will not be working with the garden will be December and January. Those will be the planning months for our upcoming garden. The kids can't wait to plant again.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

This June was a really wet one. The plants did not like being that wet. It took them a while to dry out. Having them in raised beds also helped. We also tried to keep garden pests away by installing a fence.