EAU CLAIRE — Thursday, May 18, was Wisconsin School Gardening Day, so staff, students and volunteers at Northstar Middle School couldn’t help getting their hands a little dirty while prepping their garden beds.
“It’s nice to be out here working with people and planting things for other kids in the future,” said Bella Gospodar, an eighth grader at Northstar.
Students from all around the school helped contribute, with members of the tennis team helping shovel soil and the school’s track team bringing compost bins to prepare.
Thursday marked a day which was close to the end of the student’s school year, but still fell within the start of the gardening season.
With plants such as tomatoes, squash, onions, cold crops like cabbage and more, the school garden will help contribute to the school’s Edible Classroom Garden Club activities in the coming months.
Sarah Redford, field and equipment manager and special education assistant at Northstar, said their club has been running since the spring of 2020 as an all-year round activity with something to do almost every season.
“School gardens in general can help student academic performance,” said Redford. “Getting kids outside and moving their bodies is definitely beneficial — for test scores, even.”
She continued, and said, “It’s tough because a lot of times we’re in school, at a desk, sitting and listening. We do a good job in our buildings, but it is nice to still get them outside and get them moving.”
Along with work from the students and staff in cultivating the soil and planting the garden, Brittney Malone, owner of Curvue Tree Farm and Gardens, also attended as a volunteer for the event.
“We know the value of giving back to your community, and how important it is to grow your own food and teach kids that as well,” said Malone. “We just wanted to give back and we know that school programs — like the garden club — are all volunteer and all on a teacher’s time.”
Recognizing that effort and work, the plants which were put into the garden were donated by Curvue Tree Farm and Gardens.
“One of my goals, dreams and visions is that local schools do have gardens. One for low income families to actually be able to go eat from and collect produce from, but then also to be able to teach kids about the joy of gardening,” said Malone.
As the work is done to set up the garden beds, Redford said one of their five-to-10-year plans is to effectively harvest the vegetables that grow and put them into the food pantries at Northstar. That way, the school can better serve its community in a way that helps families experiencing food insecurities by providing them with meals.
“It is important to recognize that these spaces aren’t possible without funding and grants… This space is all paid for by grants, donations and volunteer time, and that is priceless,” said Redford.
She said their school garden is not the first in the Eau Claire Area School District, and she expects it will not be the last. With a day like Wisconsin School Garden Day to bring awareness to school gardens, Redford shares in Malone’s vision to hopefully encourage more and more school gardens to grow.
“If we can get more school districts on board, we can have more of these healing spaces for kids,” said Redford.
Most Popular
Comments / 0