Diggin’ into Whitefield’s Roots: Seventh Graders Discuss Gardening Program

Whitefield Elementary School’s annual seedling sale will be on Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20, selling a variety of plants grown by the students by the students.

On Thursday, May 4, Whitefield Elementary School science and social studies teacher Karen McCormick was standing at a table in the hoop house demonstrating how to plant zucchini seeds for a group of students. They surrounded the table on all sides, watching her with round eyes, eager to jump in.

In front of McCormick was a black small carton divided into four sections, each one filled with dirt.

“Four seeds in each one (square),” she told the students as she demonstrated.

She showed how to put the dirt in the container, and then told students to tag the plant and water it.

At Whitefield Elementary School, learning is hands on. The school has a garden and aquaponics program, geared toward middle schoolers in conjunction with their science classes. The aquaponics program uses waste from several tilapia fish at the school to fertilize the garden.

Younger grades help out, too, with things like planting the seeds.

The plants and produce grown are not only for educational purposes, but for budgeting purposes as well. They will be sold at the seedling sale and the money goes back into the program.

Three seventh grade students in the hoop house shared their favorite part of the program.

“Honestly, this sounds pretty boring, but I like filling the trays,” said Audrey Tibbetts.

“I think my (favorite thing to do) is just harvesting,” Stella Martinelli said.

“Mine too,” said Bristol Jewett.

They said McCormick helps everyone, explaining the basics so the students can pick up easily.

“Our teachers have a lot of experience with it; they know the little tricks and stuff so they show us how to do it so it’s not that hard,” said Martinelli.

However, the three students each share they have previous gardening experience, as their families each have their own gardens.

“I was helping my grandpa before (the program). He has a huge garden with strawberries,” Tibbetts said.

The three students walked over to the smaller hoop house, built during spring and summer of 2020.

Inside was a fish tank to the immediate right filled with tilapia, connected to another tank filled with water. The students fill their buckets up from that tank. The water they’re using has poop from the tilapia in it, helping with fertilizing. They also have a massive container filled with dirt and worms, to help with fertilizing too.

“So what we do if there is rotten old lettuce that we didn’t have time to pick, or one will be a little wrinkled, instead of throwing it in there (compost bin), we’ll put it inside with the worms, then they eat that and we use the fertilizer for things,” said Martinelli.

The produce is also given to the students in the cafeteria at the salad bar.

At the seedling sale last year, Martinelli said that people came by and students had signs for all the plants and produce, explaining the price.

Back in the smaller hoop house, there is a tall table with seedlings sitting underneath heat lamps.

“This is the stuff that has just been planted,” Martinelli said as she pointed at the dirt underneath the heat box.

There will be a variety of seedlings available for purchase, from cucumbers to eggplant to onions and many more. There will be a plethora of flowers being sold, ranging from pansies to sunflowers to zinnias, and many more.

Whitefield Elementary School, at 164 Grand Army Road, will hold its seedling sale from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 19 and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 20.