One of the most rewarding components of our FFT activities this year has been working with the staff and students (several hundred of them!) at North Coventry Elementary School in the Owen J. Roberts School District. We met with Deb Ahola (teaching specialist) and Jim Melchor (principal) last spring. In a flash, were invited back to talk with the students and schedule days to begin rehabbing a few weedy garden beds which had not recently been used.

New beds, built by the school district’s carpentry shop, appeared as if by magic, and Mason Vollmer (organic gardener) got together a list of seeds, soil, and materials. Jo-an Rechtin (Owen J. Roberts staff) brought together earth boxes from several district schools. When everything was ready to go, we were there - planting, filling hanging pots, earth boxes and beds, weeding, watering, etc. The parents and students - and on their community service outings, the summer Food for Thought crews - tended the gardens, replanted crop rotations, and weeded through the summer!

It’s now early November, and students at the school are still eating fresh lettuce for snack time and a few other healthy foods out of the earth boxes, which are now in their classrooms. Additionally, there is a whole new garden area with new bed frames waiting for our November 5th workday to fill them with soil in preparation for an expanded garden. Won’t the spring be an exciting time for these children to see (and experience) when this garden comes into fruition!