Evart Elementary School
Evart, Michigan
Green in Action Award Winners
The kindergarten classes of Evart Elementary in Evart, Michigan have joined together to create a garden that the students will care for. According toCatherine Wirththey prep the garden, start the seeds (indoors early spring), weed, and maintain the garden. In the fall they harvest their crops and distribute to the first grade classes, so last years classes can benefit from their hard work. This year we harvested enough pumpkins for each classroom, preschool through fourth grade, to have for their fall celebrations. We would like to expand our garden to allow for more growing space for a more diversified crop. We recycle lunchroom drink containers to start our seeds...earlier containers were purchased from a garage sale. We were fortunate to have local businesses and community helpers to help begin our project. We started with a compost blend for soil donated from a local business. We hope to continue our gardening efforts by expanding the types of crops we plant as well as the quantity...hoping to provide the lunchroom with fresh produce in the fall. It has been a wonderful experience so far watching the children learn to plant and tend their own food. They have enjoyed it immensely. This year we have also challenged each classroom to plant a garden for Gardens for Earth Day it will be exciting to see what we can accomplish as a school.