Educator Julie Erickson, left, and members of the Greenfield Middle School Garden Club check out the tomato starts in the greenhouse at the school. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Educator Shona McMorrow, right, supervises members of the Greenfield Middle School Garden Club adding material to the compost bin at the school. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield Middle School Garden Club members clear bee balm out of a raised beds at the school. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo
Students at Greenfield Middle School gather around the first garlic sprouts of the season rising from the garden beds. With gloved hands, they begin spreading hay over the green stalks in order to provide insulation for the rest of the winter.
The school’s Garden Club has officially resumed this fall coming off of a year-long hiatus. The club is run by special education teacher Julie Erickson and school guidance counselor Shona McMorrow, and meets every Tuesday from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
“[The students] are getting their hands in the soil, they’re growing things that can feed them. It’s a very wholesome, nourishing opportunity that just makes me happy to provide,” said Erickson.
Before McMorrow and Erickson took over, the garden club was run by a previous ELL teacher at Greenfield Middle School (GMS). With the help of Greening Greenfield, a local organization that works on sustainability initiatives, the garden club was able to build a total of four garden beds that are now in use, and bring in a compost mulch mix from Martin’s Farm.
Doug Selwyn, a member of Greening Greenfield, emphasized the importance of students learning and understanding where their food comes from. He said that an extracurricular activity such as a garden club can help promote that initiative.
“We’re surrounded by rural [areas] and we grow a lot of food that we eat here. For the kids to make the connection between where they live and what they eat … the history of it is a whole other level of experience that they’re getting, and then being part of that process. Even if it’s just coming home with some tomatoes,” he said.
Erickson said that the “goal is for the kids to be able to prepare and eat as much of the stuff that we grow as possible.” In previous years, they’ve used their garlic to make garlic bread, and potatoes from the garden to make roast potatoes that were then served at lunch in the cafeteria.
Seventh-grade student Brianna Waldron is a new member to the garden club. She enjoys gardening with her grandmother, and is excited to continue her passion in the afterschool club.
“It’s always been really important to me,” she explained, saying that she is looking forward to “watching the plants grow and seeing their process.”
While one garden bed holds the garlic that will be harvested in July, students are working to clean out the other three to eventually plant vegetables such as tomatoes and peas as the growing season begins in the spring.
Students have also begun composting once a week at lunch. On March 24, they planted 200 tomato seeds, which will be distributed at a schoolwide giveaway for students and staff.
Lila Nietsche, a seventh grader at GMS, is looking forward to the tomato giveaway. She explained that she joined the garden club to “learn and unwind after school,” and her experiences so far have been “really fun and relaxing.”
There are eight students in the club. McMorrow highlighted the benefits of social emotional learning for children through gardening, which is one of the main reasons she was inspired to bring the club back. At an age where many middle school students might spend a lot of time looking at screens, McMorrow shared her excitement for students being present and participating in activities outside.
“It’s nice to see kids getting along, meeting people from different grades, and having fun,” she said. “The more opportunities that kids that age have to do things that are in person, the better.”
