January brought with it snow, snow days, a new semester, new students and brought us a step closer to spring! One class I am teaching this quarter is Greenhouse Technology, which is designed to 1.) teach our students a variety of garden planning skills and 2.) to help our garden business run most effectively with several people focusing on it daily.Topics for this class include: greenhouse structures and climates, propagation of plants, knowledge of garden terms and plant families, soil structure and health, crop rotation and small business skills. Our school is excited to offer such a detail oriented, gardening class.

On top of the students’ class work, they have begun to sow the seeds of our cole crops and summer flowers. The school will use the cabbage and broccoli to supplement lunches and the flowers will be used for our Mother’s Day Plant Sale at the end of April. One of the most exciting endeavors that coincides with this class is the construction of a 12×12 foot greenhouse. Our shop teacher and our students have been working for the last week to create a sturdy greenhouse. We are hoping that building will be complete by the end of this month! Once it is complete, my Greenhouse Technology class will kick sowing/propagating into high gear to truly expand our produce and flower selection for this growing season!

It is exciting to see the growth of our program over the past year and to learn new ways to incorporate our students. One day, we hope for our garden business to be student run. We would love for our program to develop in ways that make students involved in each and every aspects; from gardening and processing down to the littlest business detail. Our staff is committed to growing the program and making our garden the forefront of the education we provide at The David School.

2nd period

skyview greenhouse crew