In The News: Joan Austin school garden yields its first harvest

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

Garden provides chances for hands-on learning and produce for school's cafeteria

After fifth-grade teacher Stephanie Sayles was awarded a $3,500 grant to establish a garden at Joan Austin Elementary School last spring, the class project came to life this fall.

Not only had the various fruits, vegetables and flowers physically sprung from the ground by the time classes started in September, but, figuratively, the project also came to fruition as a venue for hands-on learning.

“We went out all the time, even before we harvested, and just checked out what was going on,” Sayles said. “The kids were so excited. It was like it was a candy store. It was amazing.”

In addition to the grant, which came from Fiskars’ Project Orange Thumb, several groups and individuals from the community pitched into make the project happen.

That included Newberg Christian Church, which constructed several raised garden beds, then helped Sayles line them and partially fill them in late May.

“The kids filled them the rest of the way,” Sayles said. “The high school, after their plant sale, gave us a ton of stuff they did not sell because I had a senior with me who was doing her senior project in the garden. Our community partner, the Chehalem Garden Club, donated a bunch of stuff that they didn’t sell. So we had all these plants and my class just planted them. They grew like crazy.”

Engineer Scott Steckley mapped out the project in the spring with computer-aided design software and landscaper Terry Paskett leveled a spot on the property for a shed that was purchased with some of the grant money, along with various tools and some strawberry plants.

Sayles said there was little maintenance to do over the summer, most of which was watering that she and a few other teachers did on a rotating basis.

Sayles also got help from her daughter, who raises rabbits and donated the manure and hay from their crates to be used as mulch.

“It really did hold down the watering and it was great fertilizer,” Sayles said. “I think that’s why they grew like they did.”

This year’s fifth-grade class has harvested the garden three times this fall, yielding large amounts of tomatoes and eggplant, as well as a few zucchinis. Some of the produce was utilized by the school cafeteria.

“We had a PTO meeting one night with parents and I had all of these extra vegetables that there was no way we were going to use,” Sayles said. “There were enormous green pumpkins, tons of different kinds of eggplant and tomatoes. I put them on this big cart for the parents and when I came back the next morning, almost all of it was gone.”

In addition to the hands-on learning done in the garden, Sayles incorporated the project into her fifth-grade science curriculum, with units on the plant structures and their functions and had her students research the plants in the garden before harvest.

“We looked at roots under the microscope,” Sayles said. “Then we tied it into Oregon agriculture. We have this enormous county map with all of the different agricultural products that Oregon produces. The kids did a bunch of different projects on that.”

Moving forward, the class will prepare the garden for winter and research what plants to grow in the spring.

The garden will also serve as the destination for compost created in the school’s earth tub, which is in turn fed by a school composting program that Sayles also had students establish and run. Until now, most of that compost had been used in the various plant beds around the school.

The urban forest portion of the project won’t begin until next year at the earliest, but Sayles is planning to have students plant a spruce tree near the school’s reader board in the near future. Otherwise, she says there is plenty of room for it to grow in the interim.

“Everybody here does want to have a bed for each grade level, but we’re so overwhelmed at the moment that I haven’t approached anyone about taking one,” Sayles. “But that’s the goal.”

In a matter of months, the project has progressed from concept to reality, which is gratifying for Sayles and encouraging for future groups of students.

“I look at it and go, ‘Whoa! It really did happen,’” Sayles said. “It couldn’t have happened without all the help we’ve had, though. It’s been really nice. The community pulled together. It’s pretty cool.”