Building a Garden was Just the Beginning

 
HARPSWELL-  As you passed West Harpswell School this summer you may have noticed the flowers and vegetables growing in neat geometrical shapes.  In the summer of 2006 the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust’s Community Gardens Program worked with WHS and Kenney Landscaping to build the garden.  That was just the beginning as the students made the garden part of their studies.

The kindergarteners planted flowers they had read about and first graders planted wildflowers to attract the butterflies they were learning about.  

Lennie Mullaney’s second graders began planning a spring planting of “rainbow vegetables” as part of their nutrition studies. Poring over seed catalogs, they realized money would be needed for seeds and supplies so they created a play on nutrition, applied for, and received a Kids Service Learning grant.  Master gardener, Kathy Graham taught them about the compost contributed by Brooks Feed.

Master gardener, Sharon Whitney spoke to grades 2, 3, & 4 on pollination.  Grade 3 was studying Native Americans and decided to plant corn, beans, and pumpkins.

Whitney also spoke to the 4^th graders about Harpswell’s Dr. McEwen and his hybridization of irises and daylilies.  The class planted McEwen irises and daylilies received from Whitney.

The 5^th grade, studying fractions, decided on a pizza garden, planting tomatoes and basil.  Chef Doug Lavalle from Scarlet Begonia came to the school to demonstrate how to make a pizza from scratch.

 4^th and 5^th graders filmed and produced a DVD of the project with guidance from Donna Frisoli of HCTV.  The WHS garden truly became a community garden.