St. Jude School Garden... The Beginning

The First Grade Class at St. Jude School in Monroe, CT now has a garden to call their own! Thanks to the efforts of Fr. Skip, dedicated parents, and the support of the school administration, their garden is currently underway.

The first crop is scheduled for September, 2009 and will hopefully yield plenty of tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro to make several batches of salsa. Also planted will be pumpkins, just in time for Autumn fun.

The St. Jude Building & Grounds Committee selected a prime location that will allow for plenty of sunlight and easy access. The garden is already posing a problem to the local raccoon, however, as it's infringing upon the raccoon's ability to get to the dumpster!

On Tuesday, May 12th, several parents met with the class to share the details.

Maureen Minnick hosted a sychronization exercise with the children, that helped them better understand the process of creating a garden, planting the seeds, and harvesting the fruits.

The kids seemed to have a great time with the exercise!!!

Everyone then took a trip outside to see the garden IN PROGRESS! Fr. Skip met us and explained what the garden would look like, showed where everything would be planted, and explained the steps that needed to be complete.

Several parents and Mrs. Cassin joined us outdoors, and garden gloves were presented to each of the children!

The children will get a chance to use their gloves on Thursday, May 21st when we begin preparing the soil for planting. Information regarding this event will be distributed to the class parents... please check back to this blog for more pictures and updates, or contact Christine Peterson for project details (christine.peterson@snet.net).