BC News

BCMS Garden Club is growing
Release Date: Sept. 23, 2009

Members of the new Bethlehem Central Middle School Garden Club didn’t waste any time before literally digging in when they returned to school this fall.

“Remember I said Mother Nature doesn’t wait,” Assistant Principal and club advisor Mark Warford told the group at its first meeting this month. “We have a bunch of green beans that need to be picked.”

So, the group of about 20 students and a dozen faculty members took to the gardens and began harvesting the beans — and a few heads of red leaf lettuce and some carrots, just part of the bounty the garden will deliver this fall. Over the next few days, the students would see the produce again, this time on their plates in the school cafeteria.

With the help of a group of students, teachers and parents, Mr. Warford established the gardens last spring, transforming an area just out the back door of the cafeteria into a dozen or so raised beds. The idea was to establish a “kitchen garden,” that would supply the cafeteria with fresh, organic lettuce, spinach, peas, radishes and more, and also expose students in a direct way to healthy, sustainable food choices.

“The garden ties into a larger school and district program to raise awareness about the choices that students make every day,” Mr. Warford said. “The food we eat is a big part of our daily choices. The beautiful thing about the garden is that is a great way to foster community — from the students working side by side in the gardens, to the community groups that will help tend the gardens to younger students who can come and learn from their older peers about the project.”

Indeed, there is plenty to learn about and plenty of work to be done. Vegetables will be planted in the spring to be harvested late in the school year and throughout the summer.

Then, in late summer and early fall, a bumper crop consisting of vegetables such as carrots and beets will be planted, meaning the garden will deliver three seasons of fresh produce. This also means that the 4-foot by 25-foot beds must be planted, watered, weeded and harvested a few times a year.

Mr. Warford envisions the Garden Club being primarily responsible for this work during the spring and fall when school is in session. During the summer, students and their families may return to work, along with staff members and community groups such as Brownies, Boy Scouts, local garden clubs and the Healthy Kids Committee.

He is quick to point out that community groups are welcome any time, and suggested that any organization interested in getting involved with the garden contact him.

The garden has already proved to be a valuable learning tool for Middle School students. During the first few weeks of school, 7th grade Life Science teacher Lisa Wood brought her students to the garden to pull some plants and explain their different parts. Many students have never seen so directly how plants grow, especially those we eat, Mrs. Wood explained.

“We learn about the parts of plants later in the year, and when I try to describe how we eat the flower, stem, fruit, and root, they have a difficult time visualizing what that would actually look like.” she said. “It was amazing to take them into the garden and actually pick or pull the fruits/vegetables and show them the part of the plant that we eat. It was a great way to start out the year, and there were many things that we saw that we will refer back to throughout the year.”

A key focus of a districtwide Green Team, comprised of faculty and staff members from every school exploring how the district can take even more action toward sustainability, is exploring if other schools in Bethlehem are interested in establishing kitchen gardens.

During the first meeting of the Middle School Garden Club, students marveled at the fact that just beyond their school doors they were unearthing large, crisp heads of red-leaf lettuce and plucking bright orange carrots straight from the ground. Nearby, students rolled back husks to expose brightly colored rows of Indian corn on the cob. The district’s K-12 Science Supervisor Michael Klugman explained how the nation’s early settlers developed new varieties of corn plantings based on the types of kernels they identified in the native corn.

“I’d like to make my own garden and help the environment,” sixth grade student Caroline Dunbrook explained. “I like learning about plants and vegetables.”

Mr. Warford’s daughter Lily, also a sixth grader at the school, is also a charter member of the new Garden Club.

“I really like helping the environment and helping local communities,” she said. “Gardening is a community thing.”

Mr. Warford plans to continue to explore what community connections can be developed through the garden. If there is more food than the Middle School kitchen staff can use – a likely prospect – he plans to share it with other schools in the district and local food pantries.

There is also the possibility, he said, of a Middle School Garden presence at the recently established Delmar Farmer’s Market, which is held Saturdays at the school through October 31.

The club, along with several faculty members who have been integral to the gardening effort, will also handle the task of giving the front of the Middle School an autumn makeover of sorts. Beginning Tuesday, September 22, passersby will notice scarecrows scattered across the grounds of the school. View pictures.

Learn more about the BC Green Team.

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