Green Thumb Epidemic at Montessori Regional Charter School

We learned about nutrition and healthy living. Kim Beers and Robin Keister from the Erie Co. Health Department came in several times to talk with us about nutrition.

Another part of our project was planning and constructing an edible school garden. We want the garden to be a sustainable resource for the school. A few classes will take on the responsibility each year.

Our school has been composting for years, but now it can be put to good use in our garden. Two raised beds and a fence were built, and we planted in early June. We learned about the topsoil, mulch, manure, vermiculite and peat moss that went into our garden.

Each student got their own one square foot plot for growing. We researched different fruits and vegetables. We looked at growing seasons, native crops and space needed. Then we decided what we wanted to plant in our squares.

Some of the produce grown will be used for our annual Thanksgiving feast here at MRCS. Families have volunteered for maintaining it during the summer.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on June 6th to celebrate our garden! Many people attended including County Executive Mark Divecchio and Jim Martin from Highmark. We gave a presentation to the community and we were even interviewed by the Erie Times-News and WJET TV 24.

A special THANK-YOU to Earth Force and our sponsors that provided a grant to help make it possible - The Erie County Health Department and Highmark. All of our plants and some of our seeds were graciously donated by Miller Bros. Garden Center and Honeycutt’s Greenhouse. THANKS!