With a bit of labor, some careful planting, and a good measure of water, sunshine and patience, students at St. Joseph School in York are producing bounties of vegetables and plants in their school garden to enjoy.
Constructed almost a decade ago with the purpose of teaching students about photosynthesis, pollination and the source of their food, the garden has also yielded another crop: lessons on stewardship and care for creation.
“School-wide participation in the garden has really taken off. This was the first year that every classroom had a hand in it,” said Jennifer Danczyk, administrative manager at St. Joseph School. Along with her husband Matt, she has taken the lead on the project.
“The teachers are passionate about the garden and incorporating lessons into it, and that has inspired the students,” she said. “We have families who aren’t able to grow gardens where they live, and it’s been especially great to see their kids getting involved and excited about it here.”
Student Charlotte Byrnes’ aunt started the garden at St. Joe’s nearly ten years ago and the third grader said she enjoys working in it and seeing it continue.
“The other kids at my school are helping in it a lot, and I like planting the flowers and watching them grow. My favorite things to watch are the flowers; I love them all,” she said.
Kindergartener Laurell Narh joined a few classmates in sprinkling flower seeds on a recent June morning and was talking about the garden-grown marigold she had taken home to her mom the night before. “We grew marigolds and lettuce this year. The lettuce grew fast. We started it in our classroom and it was growing in three days,” she said.
The school isn’t certified to serve the fruits and vegetables through student lunches, but the kids are permitted to taste the produce in class and take harvested items home to enjoy.
This year, the bounty included potatoes, green peppers, basil, string beans, cucumbers, squash and lettuce, as well as several types of flowers. But it started with some sweat equity of pulling weeds, mixing mushroom compost into the soil, digging trenches and arranging river rocks around the beds.
“At the start of the year, my class was responsible for pulling weeds. We also dug rocks out from the soil and washed and dried them so they could be painted with positive messages and pictures,” said fourth grader Luna Martinez-Garibay.
“When it came to choose what we wanted to plant, I chose daisies and green beans, and it was great to be able to take home and enjoy what we grew,” she said. “When I think of the whole process from start to finish, I think about how us as students are like plants that need nurturing to grow.”
Fifth grader Dominic Calder shared a similar observation. “Gardening and watching things from start to finish has taught me that it can take time to see the good in things. With plants, we have to be patient and wait for sprouts and blooms, but we can’t just plant them and leave them on their own. They need constant care in order to flourish,” he said.
That care doesn’t end when the school year does. This summer, parents, teachers and other volunteers are tending the garden as the community-wide project continues to grow.
“Everybody now has ownership of the garden,” Danczyk said. “For the students especially, it shows that they all have a part in growing things and talents to contribute that can be shared with the community.”
(Photos by Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
