I now have a new found appreciation for teachers. In celebration of Earth Day, of Farmers Market Manager and one of our community garden supervisors Helen, reached out to the Williamson K8 School to do an Earth Day planting.
When I agreed to assist with the planting, I did not know what I was signing up for.
Helen, who also works for the Guyan Conservation District, had ordered over 500 Marigold seeds, 200 pine tree seeds and enough pots and paint to supply the whole k-8 building. All of this was only $250, and it served over 500 kids. I would highly suggest a children’s activity such as this to any site (although I would not have chosen flower seeds, but edibles).
The hour long planting event that I thought I had signed up for was in fact set to go from 8:30-3:30. Needless to say it was a long day.
We went to each classroom and helped them prepare their pots: first by painting and then by preparing the soil. We handed out individual seeds to eat child and taught them the basics of how to grow and nurture (“what’s nurture?”) their seedlings. We plan to go back in several weeks to help them transplant the flowers outdoors to help beautify their school.
While the day was chaotic, I was pleased to see that the kids were 1) recycling in every classroom (there is not a county wide recycling program in Mingo County, we have to go over the boarder into Pike County to drop off recyclable items) and that 2) all teachers had Earth Day shirts and were teaching lessons about nature and protecting our Earth.
Most importantly though.I was pleased to see how excited the students were to grow things.
Great to see such participation through-out the school, especially on Earth Day….bravo!