Farm to School: April 2022
What is in a seed?
Magic. Hope. Joy. Beauty. Food. Life.
Planting seeds with young children exposes them to the joy and wonder of nature. While doing the real work of gardening, children ask questions, make predictions, observe, and with adult guidance, learn to record what they notice. This is quintessential hands-on science education in the early years.
How is it that these little seeds can hold the stuff of entire pumpkin vines, a full spectrum of colorful flowers, and majestic oak trees? Planting seeds and tending to them as they provide us with beauty and food (and even when the plants fail to thrive) allows children to make meaningful connections with the land and food that sustains them.
Over the next few weeks, Winston Prouty’s Farm to School Team is looking forward to working with classrooms to start seeds and prepare the school garden for the growing season. Already, children from the Oak Room collected soil samples to send to the UVM testing lab. We look forward to improving our garden’s soil composition, irrigation system and more, thanks to the Farm to School & Early Childhood Grant we received from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Markets.
Wish List
Volunteers – Are you interested in being part of our Farm to School Team? Want to be a regular Garden Gnome? We would love to have you!
Paving and edging materials – Have a few bricks, paving stones, a bucket of pea stone, or something else that can be used to create a mixed materials garden path? We could use it to define our garden paths from the beds!
If you answered, “Yes, that’s me!” contact Sueño. (sueno@winstonprouty.org)
Prouty Plant Swap – 4/25 through 5/14
By dividing, we multiply!
Winston Prouty’s Farm to School team is excited to host a plant swap in front of Thomas Hall this spring. Families and friends are encouraged to share in the abundance of our collective home gardens. The rock wall in front of Thomas Hall will be our staging area where people can drop off plants, peruse the offerings, and leave with new plants. We encourage donations for plants that you leave with, as a way to support our Farm to School efforts.
How it Works – The Big Picture
- Between April 25th and May 6th, we invite families and friends to drop off plants along the rock wall. Plants should be pest free and labelled.
- Beginning May 2nd people can select plants from the rock wall to take home.
How it Works – The Details
- We welcome perennial divisions, extra plants from your garden six-pack, seeds, and rooted clippings from your favorite house plant.
- Help some of us new gardeners by labeling plants with as much information as you can: Name, light requirements (sun, shade, part sun, etc.), soil and water requirements and a brief description (height, color, flowering, etc.)
- Bring your labelled plants and find the right location along the wall: hardy perennials, tender annuals, house plants, seed packets. This will help others find suitable plants for their landscaping and help us manage the plants that need to be covered or brought inside each night.