Fifth Graders Learn Sustainable Gardening Practices; Plant Vegetables in MFS Community Garden

Fifth graders learned to plant and grow vegetables using sustainable gardening practices over the past two months thanks to some expertise and instruction from local gardener and campus neighbor Toni Farmer. Toni has almost 30 years of experience growing fruits and vegetables, raising chickens, and cooking in her own backyard. The lessons were a great opportunity for students to live out the Quaker values of stewardship, community, and peace.

The fifth graders began by planting initial seedlings housed in classroom containers during Intensive Learning in late March. Toni visited students to discuss the importance of gardening and students spent a rainy day caring for the school’s Community Garden.

Toni has continued weekly visits to fifth grade classes to educate students about various aspects of gardening – how to identify weeds vs. sprouts, maintenance, and proper watering, and much more. Classes spent time on May 5 planting some of the developed seedlings into the MFS Community Garden located just off McShap Path near Hartman Hall. The garden now has watermelon, pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers growing thanks to the students.

“Toni is a wonderful resource and we are so thankful for the time she has spent with our students,” said Fifth Grade teacher Sarah Rotter. “Not only is she extremely knowledgeable about gardening, she is passionate about sustainable living and a skilled educator. This was a great project which allowed our students to live out a number of our core Quaker values.”