Over the past few years, the gardens and greenhouses at Troy Howard
Middle School have produced over 100 varieties of vegetables and fruits
– more than 28,600 pounds of produce – for district schools. On Friday,
Sept. 12, visitors on the Belfast Garden Club’s Open Garden Day tour
will get to see just how students and their two teachers have managed
that feat.
The gardens cover only about a third
of an acre, according to teacher Jon Thurston. “If you take in
everything else [the greenhouse and hoop houses], it gets closer to a
half acre.”
Neat rows of lettuce, chards,
mustard, onions, leeks, garlic, squash and kohl crops – broccoli,
cabbages, kale -- spread out along the field behind the school earlier
this summer. Huge heads of garlic, a variety named Georgian Fire, were
just being harvested. This weekend, tomatoes will be ripening. “We have
about 75 to 80 [varieties] that we grow and save the seed,” said
teacher Steve Tanguay. “We have 40 fruit trees.”
Visitors will be able to walk through the gardens, visit the greenhouse
(home to chickens, rabbits and fish as well as food crops) and observe
preparations for the Common Ground Fair. Last year, says Tanguay, “we
had 90 entries. I think we are the only school that participates in the
exhibition hall. We do pretty well with the ribbons.”
During the winter, the three greenhouses are used for growing greens
for the schools, the Belfast Food Co-op, and the Stone Soup Kitchen.
“Swiss chard is the biggest seller and mesclun mix,” says Thurston who
serves as agricultural coordinator for the district, SAD 34.
“We deliver to the schools every day,” says teacher Steve Tanguay. “And
to the co-op twice a week.” During the fall, September and October,
students run a farm stand every Tuesday and Thursday after school.
The school gardens will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to
giving tours, the students “will be selling fresh home-made salsa and
vegetables from the garden,” says Tanguay. “We will have ‘pick your own
lettuce.’ We may even have a pumpkin throw.”
The next garden tour is Friday, Sept. 19, when Diane
Allmeyer-Beck, Belfast Garden Club president, opens her gardens on
Lincolnville Avenue. It will be the final tour.
The garden club suggests a donation of $3. Funds raised benefit the
club’s Belfast Civic Beautification projects – a dozen of them
including the new garden, “Water-loo,” just created at the public
restrooms near the wharf, the gardens at the library, Post Office
Square, the Police Station, City Park and around the chapel at the
cemetery.
(photos by Nan Cobbey)
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