On April 12, the Garden Club took a field trip to the organic vegetable garden at the Center for Food Action. While the Sixth Grade has a long-standing relationship with the CFA, having been the ones to originally construct this garden, this was the first organized event there for high school students. The trip began with an overview of what the CFA garden does and why it is important, followed by work in small groups. Some of the tasks accomplished included preparing grow bags for planting, intensive weeding, clearing beds to plant peas, and transplanting flower seedlings.
Not everyone on the trip was a Garden Club member – for Hiker Gouverneur, this was his first foray into gardening. He described the experience as “rejuvenating,” saying that “it was a great opportunity to relax during a very academically stressful time.” Garden Club co-president Hannah Carroll concurs, saying that the trip was “really fun,” and provided her with “a great opportunity to look into for the summer.” Indeed, one of the goals of the trip was to encourage students to do more volunteering at the CFA garden over the summer. This seems to have worked, as most of the participants said they were at least considering doing more volunteering there, and largely the same group has already agreed to return as part of a trip on May 29.