Graduating the Garden

Healthy Snack Week (HSW) is over! And Senior Project is almost officially over! I can't believe this year is almost done. HSW was pretty stressful and I'm glad it's over, but it was still worthwhile and I think the kids loved it! The posters all turned out really cute and the winners of the contest were 5th grade, Mrs. Rivers class. They got strawberry banana smoothies. Their poster was a popout poster with a weaved fruit basket on a beach with a rather muscular man excercising. And then they went so far as to put out an actual fruit basket with fruit in it-- for the judges only of course. Bribe? Perhaps, but it was cute. I made about $120 for the week, so only about a $20 profit. I wasn't doing it for the profit, so it doesn't matter. Here are some of the pictures of the posters:

And the winners were... Mrs. Rivers' class!

Anyway, as far as the garden goes, the potatoes are sprouting! I will probably continue the garden and continue composting with the 4th grade til the end of school even though Senior Project will officially be over. I need to talk to the 4th grade teachers about hopefully continuing the garden next year. Also, I'd like to add in the compost to the beds once the potatoes are harvested at the very end of the year. And that'll be it!

I have learned a lot from my project this year, both from the research paper and the actual project. I will be continuing the garden at my home in the summer so as to further my gardening education. I find gardening soothing to the nerves and the heart, as cliche as that sounds. I'm really glad I chose this for my project- it's been tough at times, but I pulled through and I feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile. I now have to put together my portfolio. Goodbye and thanks for reading all year long!

Laura Godenick