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Troy
Howard Middle School Garden Webcams |
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Camera 1 - Click on
the image
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Camera 2 - Click on
the image |
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| Downeast
Magazine
exhibit
at
theBelfast
Free
Library featuring the THMS Garden Project created by photographer
and
friend
Jennifer
Smith-Mayo. |
The Belfast Coop is now advertising: "...select heirloom seeds from
Belfast's Troy Howard Middle School Seed Saving Program.....Our local produce supply currently
consists of root crops, chard and mesclun from Troy Howard.....That's
right, we are all eating more locally!"
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See how Belfast Middle School students grow an education: DownEast.com.
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-Photo Class in the
Garden with Lynn Karlin Playing
Here
Now
-A
Wonderful
Year
in
the
Garden
2008-2009
Playing Here Now
-Read
this case
study on the Seed Division Art work in the Garden Project:
Five
Reasons
Arts
Education
Is
Essential
to
Sustainability written by the Center
for
Ecoliteracy.
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Smart
by
Nature: Schooling for
Sustainability portrays the growing sustainability movement in
K-12 education, showcasing the THMS
Garden Project in Belfast, Maine.
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THMSCompost Division
Composting
Video
Learning
to
turn
food
waste
into
gold. |
THMSSeed Division
Watching a
tiny grain
turn into a 12' sunflower is something you can't experience on a
computer.
Click
Here Seed
Order
2010
THMS Seed
Inventory |
THMS Garden
Stand Division
Students practice responsibility in the
community we live in by working with the Belfast Coop, Soup
Kitchen, Farmer's Market, area restaurants and the School District
Lunch programs. |
The Troy Howard Middle School Garden Project
Garden
and
Greenhouse
Project
Summary
The Purpose
To grow empowered-academically successful young
people who integrate sustainability into their lives by producing and
learning to satisfy their needs locally. View our Garden Brochure.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to create a district wide
agricultural project that promotes healthy living. At the Troy Howard
Middle School we strive to integrate the school and its land with the
community.
Our goal is to engage all students in a
journey of discovery through gardening projects that achieve Maine
science, math, technology and social studies learning results, produce
nutritious food and pioneer action-research for sustainability Curriculum Overview. At the heart of
the gardening program are the young people excited by making a real
difference in their school and community.
The program provides RSU 20 educators a
framework and activities that integrate gardening and our watershed
within the curriculum. This is being achieved through teacher
development workshops, school-community partnerships and in-class
teaching that facilitates inquiry-based student projects producing
compost, earthworms, organic food, seeds, seedlings, knowledge and
skills to share and sell, student-run businesses and community
apprenticeships - that grow empowered, academically successful young
people.
Beginning the Year
Students start each school year in a one week
Farmer's Market Training, comprised of 35 learning and assessment
stations. Since the fall is such a busy time in the garden,
students begin their Garden
Apprenticeship the first day of class and attempt to have as many
different experiences as they can. At the end of the eight week
apprenticeship students are ready to interview for a position in one of
the garden divisions. Specific job responsibilities are created
as the students define their interests and abilities.
History
The Troy Howard Middle School Garden Project
encompasses an outdoor learning experience by providing a school-wide
garden and greenhouse project in which all children in Regional School
Unit 20 (RSU #20) can participate. The garden project was established
in 2001-2002. Each year the garden project has expanded to
include the involvement of more students and staff. The
greenhouse was built in the summer of 2002 and the farm stand was
completed the following spring.
The purpose of the garden is to allow the
students to learn experientially through an integrated
curriculum. Concepts such as where our food comes from, how
to grow, harvest and prepare vegetables and fruit and the key to
healthy soils and choices are developed. Since it’s
inception, this project has gained the attention of the media,
community members and other school districts. It is seen as both
a regional and national model for school agricultural programs.
This project has gone through
three major
phases of development, with each step bringing more pride and
excitement to the program. The outdoor learning environment
has expanded with trails, a pond and
streams project, apple tree
restoration and an heirloom seed garden. All of these projects
are located on the 86 acre Troy A. Howard Middle School site in
Belfast, Maine.
Today
The garden provides nutritious, whole foods
that are used district-wide in the school lunch program. In 2002,
approximately 4000 pounds of food were harvested. Of that 1785
pounds, valued at $985, were incorporated into the school food services
menus. Some of the food produced were donated to local soup
kitchens and food pantries thereby teaching community responsibility
and social awareness.
The remaining produce was sold at the THMS Farmer’s
Market to RSU 20 families and the community (or given directly to
students) and the local food Coop, thereby creating a small source of
revenue to reinvest in the project. In 2003 -2010, our students grew
another 48,600 lbs. of food for distribution. This fall we've had
a wonderful harvest of over one-hundred vegetable varieties well
exceeding one ton. The garden is also a supplier to various home
economics lessons and has turned into a hotbed of year round math
challenges .
The greenhouse was planted for the first time
in the fall of 2002. A variety of herbs, vegetables and flowers
are grown from seeds or starts. Fresh greens are sold to the
district cafeteria program, local food coop, through the school farm
stand and to individual staff through the winter months. Two
unheated hoop houses are also maintained to provide additional greens
for our local soup kitchen and to hold a large underground worm bin for
all of the school's left over food and paper waste. The hoops houses
were designed and built by the gardeb students and has become a place
for student research.
The Garden Project
affords the
students the opportunity to work collaboratively, solve problems as a
team and foster a strong sense of self-confidence while gaining an
appreciation for the value of agriculture. Staff utilize
the garden and greenhouse for projects with students in the areas of
art, plant experimentation, math, earth science, Maine history,
writing & research, nutrition and economics.
A
mentoring
program
has
also
been
established
which
pairs
7th
&
some
8th
grade
students
with
younger
students
from
various local
elementary schools.
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The Pizza
Garden has flourished, providing all of the ingredients needed to
make a delicious pizza (all we need is a water buffalo to provide us
milk for mozzarella cheese).
Bean-hole-beans are prepared from the Maine History Garden, researched
and designed by students in an attempt to make a connection with
Maine's agricultural history.
The Maine Laptop Initiative has been a big help in moving the garden
project forward. As part of the seventh grade economics program,
students run businesses utilizing the laptops for research and
interviews, designing brochures, maintaining a garden database/
spreadsheet, building web pages, creating multimedia presentations,
business cards and garden catalogs.
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Discussions are ongoing
with the RSU 20 Food Service Manager, the Belfast Food Co-Op, soup kitchens and food
pantries regarding their needs for produce. We provide fresh,
naturally grown produce for each of these services. The students
also manage a beautiful garden stand which sells to the local school
community. Master Gardeners, University Extension Service and
MOFGA have also offered their professional expertise to support THMS
Garden Project.
Our cut flower garden has brought much
pleasure to many of our classrooms with the constant supply of fresh
flowers they provide. This was begun as a Master Gardener Project by Anna
Kessler and Lynn Pussic, Master Gardener Volunteers.
Start up funds and supplies for the Troy Howard
Middle School Garden project came from grants, local donations and RSU
20 financial and human resources. The University of Maine
Cooperative Extension, USDA, Cornell and local experts have provided
technical assistance. Our community
friends have been the key to making this project grow.
Student dedication and perserverance running the program has been its
greatest strength
Most Recently
Feeding humans is not where it ends at the
Troy Howard Middle School. Our most recent efforts involve
working to re-establish the natural habitat that once flourished on our
86 acre school grounds. This has led students to work towards
building a bird sanctuary, raising and harvesting wheat for bread,
developing seed-saving technologies, practicing greenhouse chemistry,
building a demonstration forest program, creating a pond irrigation
system and perfecting a thermal solar hoop house and cooking
structure . Our school will continue to reach out in an effort to
build partnerships with the local agricultural community and
professional support persons.
The Troy Howard Middle School Garden Program will
grow young people with the knowledge, values and practical skills to
grow food. Our staff strives to empower-academically successful
young people who integrate sustainability into their lives learning to
satisfy their needs locally. The curriculum attempts to integrate
core, traditional subjects and state assessments through hands-on
engagement.
Pleaseclick
here  to e-mail us for more
information :-)
Copyright ©
1998,
2012
All rights
reserved
This site was
created and is maintained by Steven Tanguay
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