Meadows Valley School Receives a School Garden Grant
Thanks
to the grant-writing work of Nancy Smith, the school has received a $2000 grant to start a school garden. The shop program
will build the raised beds, elementary students will plant seeds and horticulture students will help them plant the seeds.
The food raised will be used in the school lunch program. Thanks for all your hard work, Nancy!
Meadows Valley School and Community Garden
By Nancy Smith
Meadows Valley School was one of fourteen Idaho schools to receive a $2000 School Garden Grant from the USDA.
The goal of the grant is to enhance nutrition education, classroom curriculum and increase the understanding and awareness
of foods and agriculture. For this reason, we’ve chosen Gardening & Nutrition to be the theme of the MV School Carnival
on April 6th, Celebrate Education Night. On Earth Day, April 22, students will plant vegetable seeds in pots to later be transplanted
to the garden. Mr. Johnson’s Shop classes will build our raised beds for the vegetables and a couple of vertical potato
boxes. Later this spring we’ll plant two apple trees to start our own little orchard and we’ll need to rotor-till
a spot for the MVSC Berry Patch. We are looking for raspberry starts and straw-berry plants if anyone has extras this spring’
The spot we’ve chosen for the garden is in front of the school, along the side
of the fence, north of the Community House. We encourage community members as well as kids and their families to join us gardening.
If you’ve never grown your own vegetables, come learn how it’s done. If you’re an experienced gardener,
come teach someone your tricks.
The grant doesn’t allow money for certain items so we are looking for donations. So far, we’ve received donations
of some seeds, pots, flats, a shovel, and of some lumber left over from the new Forest Service Bunkhouse construction job.
We are looking for any extra gardening tools, hoses, drip irrigation, metal fence panels for hoops, rolls of plastic for hoop
covers, metal fence posts, and left-over lumber people may have. We also need topsoil for the raised beds and someone to haul
it when we find it, and potting soil to grow our seedlings. We will also need to use a rotor-tiller to prepare the berry patch.
There are so many learning experiences to be found
in gardening. We are really excited to have this opportunity to learn how to grow fresh nutritious food and to be able to
eat the fresh local food we grew ourselves. Come join us this summer in the MV School & Community Garden!