by Kelsey Head
A shared vision: April 2012
Jack O’Malley, Culinary Arts teacher, and chef/farmer Chris Fischer partnered with Island Grown Schools to host an entirely “island grown” dinner. It’s sole purpose – to start the MVRHS garden. Students prepared and cooked the 4-course meal, then served and presented their vision of the garden. In one night they raised enough money to start digging!
First came the beds
Building Trades students, led by teacher Bill Seabourne, began working on the garden beds. The posts turned out to be perfect for supporting trellises for peas and beans. The students also surprised us by building a gorgeous garden shed…with a huge window!
The students helped place the raised beds in an oval shape, which left a central gathering area in the middle.
Then came the soil
Our funds from the “island grown dinner” went directly to Keene’s largest truckload delivery of island compost. It took 4 class periods for students to use 3 wheelbarrows to transport 20 yards of soil (about 18 tons) into 11 garden beds. Amazing work by students in Building Trades, Horticulture, and Leadership, and Island Grown Schools interns who took time after school to make sure this important work was completed!
Planting season begins
IGS interns – Caitlin, Natalie, Alyssa, and Jessie – had started seeds in the greenhouse. By the time the soil was delivered and placed in the beds the seedlings were ready to move outside!
Potatoes!
Elaine Weintraub and her Irish History class came out and planted two beds of potatoes (red, white and blue varieties), as they learned about the potato famine. They also planted a bed of sweet potatoes!
A community effort
Mentorship students worked with their 2nd grade “buddies” in their newly established garden. The Oak Bluffs 2nd grade brought leftover broccoli plants from their own greenhouse to share with their high school friends. They also planted marigolds, blue corn, basil, cabbage, lettuce, and pumpkins that they will share together when they return in the fall!
June
By the end of the school year all the beds were planted, mulched, and the students left for summer vacation with the hopes that when they returned in the fall there might just be something to harvest!
Summertime
The Island Grown Schools teen program, the Farm Project, made up of 5 MVRHS students, took over the garden for the summer. They worked every Wednesday, rain or shine, led by 3 MVRHS alumni.
Sharing is Caring
The abundance in the garden inspired the Farm Project to donate the produce to Woodside Village, right across the road.
Feeding the community, and ourselves
The Farm Project crew – Emerson, Lee, Katie, Kaila, and Lisa – feasted on garden salads after they worked in the hot summer sun. The lettuces, nasturtiums, peas, kale, swiss chard, and herbs kept the crew going all summer long. Lisa, a MVRHS alumna and garden advocate from years past, brought in old stumps from her family’s property to create a gathering circle in the center of the garden for future classes.
The garden grows
The summer garden crew watched as the sunflowers began stretching high into the sky. By mid-August the flowers were out of Emerson’s reach (he is 6’2”).
The first fall harvest. Once school started in September, there was plenty to harvest and bring to the cafeteria. Leadership students came out and harvested several cabbages which were turned into coleslaw for the school lunches. Culinary Arts students harvested sweet potatoes (which they learned are not actually potatoes after all). They were roasted in the oven and served to parents at Back to School Night. Irish History students harvested the potatoes they had planted in the spring and made their famous Irish Nachos! Biology students harvested nasturtium leaves, and local chefs Jan Buhrman and Jaime Hamlin made a nasturtium pesto that both students and parents loved! The garden, in its first few months, had become part of a food revolution.
Gratitude
Thank you to everyone who has made this garden possible:
MVRHS Vocational Program – Horticulture, Building Trades, Culinary Arts; Island Grown Schools Coordinator – Kaila Binney; IGS interns – Caitlin, Alyssa, Natalie, Jessie; 2012 FARM Project – Emerson, Lee, Katie, Lisa, Kaila; 2012 Leadership Classes, Irish History Classes, Global History Class, and Biology Class; MVRHS Principal Steve Nixon, MVRHS Cafeteria Director Bernadette Cormie, MVRHS Vocational Director Jeff Rothwell, MVRHS Wellness Committee – Linda Leonard, Kathy Perrotta, and Mary MacDonald
After many years of conceptualizing – by students, teachers and Island Grown Schools (the Vineyard’s farm-to-school program) – the MVRHS Garden was installed in the school’s inner courtyard in May 2012. Both the design and installation were completed by students from a variety of classes, including several independent study students who wanted to focus on the garden and issues of sustainability on the island.
The garden currently produces greens, herbs, and a variety of other vegetables for the cafeteria. Last year students planted several beds of asparagus and over 30 fruit trees, grape vines and berry bushes which will begin fruiting in the next few years. Students also use the garden for seed saving, and this year will begin a seed bank – the first of its kind on the Vineyard.
Beyond its role as a production garden, the space is used by many different classes as an outdoor classroom, and an alternative learning environment. History classes learn about the origins of crops, their routes across the world, and the impacts these crops have had global development. Understanding where food comes from – both historically and within our current global food system – enables students to recognize their role as agents of change as consumers, and potential producers of food.
Science classes learn about plant life cycles, the soil food web, and the process of decomposition in diverse contexts. Science students utilize the garden to understand plant classification, and to perform growing experiments with a range of variables – from temperature to amounts sunlight to various inputs, to types of crops. As students explore the world of genetic engineering, they are able to compare crops that are GMO, hybrid, and heirloom varieties. These skills enable them to understand the complexities of our food system, and give them the tools to take part in widespread, current international debates regarding food, labeling, and the power of the consumer.
In health classes, students are introduced to the concept of “Vote with your Fork” and the connections between healthy soil, healthy plants and healthy people. They explore the routes that conventional foods travel to get to our plate, and the ramifications of our current food system. When students begin to see where their food comes from, they are able to make informed decisions about their food choices and take action for their own health. The garden gives them a space to watch the process from “seed to fork” and recognize that every one of us can take our health into our own hands. The garden teaches us that every one of us has the ability to grow food.