Sterling Montessori Academy and Charter School
Sterling Community Garden
Morrisville, North Carolina
During the fall and spring season in the Sterling Community Garden, elementary students from seven classrooms grow organic vegetables and companion herbs in seven 4 foot by 8 foot raised beds, as part of an outdoor classroom and service learning project.
The season begins with a garden workday to prepare the beds, in-class introductions to plants and seeds, and discussions of what plants need to thrive (soil, sun, water, weather, beneficial insects and plants), and how eating a rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables every day helps maintain healthy brains and bodies. We also discuss the fact that some families have limited access to fresh produce, and agree to donate most of our harvest to organizations that fight food insecurity in local communities.
Throughout the season, gardening activities include sowing seeds, planting plants, watering, thinning, hand weeding and insecticide-free pest management, as needed.
At harvest times we celebrate by sampling right off the vine, making beet-spinach smoothies in class, and/or packing and delivering most of the produce to our local food heroes, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (IFFS) in Raleigh, NC.
Last year we donated over $1,000 worth of organic beet, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, chard, collard, kale, lettuce, spinach and turnip greens to the IFFS's Camden Street Learning Garden and "Plant-A-Row For Hunger" drop-off site (at Logan's Trading Company) where it is forwarded to identified families in need.
HOW WE GROW -
Each season in the STERLING COMMUNITY GARDEN teachers and parents work together to help students of participating classrooms with the following steps...
