Elementary teaching garden planned at HCES

    HARLAN – Students in the Harlan Community Elementary Schools will soon have the opportunity to learn about food and gardening through an interactive, hands-on experience being planned for this spring and fall.
    Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, Director of Wellness, Food and Nutrition Services at HCS, said the district is seeking donations for a small teaching garden hoped to be constructed in April at the elementary school.
    “We will be growing just cool season crops this spring and fall,” she said.  “We are working with the high school tech program to build four raised beds and have bedding plants donated to us.”
    Walsh-Rosmann said needs include everything from work gloves, hand trowels, a hose with nozzle, dirt rakes, a wheelbarrow, five gallon buckets, and four-foot cattle panels to hoes, watering cans, newspaper for mulching, wood (2x12x12 foot long, 2x12x8 foot long, and 4x4x8 foot long), lag bolts and a small/medium sized kids bike.
    Sign up what items you can donate at https://tinyurl.com/HCESGarden.  Drop off items during the month of March at door 19 at the intermediate building from 4:30-5 p.m.  If dropping off lumber, email foodservice@hcsdcyclones.com
    “Our plan is to plant in April,” Walsh-Rosmann said.  Fourth and fifth-grade classrooms will sign up to manage and plant the garden, and there will garden tours for the younger students.  The students will be able to observe and experiment, taste and test the vegetables, which will include spinach, lettuce, radishes and peas, to name a few.
    “We’ll be teaching students where their food comes from, and hopefully motivate them to eat and love fruits and vegetables,” Walsh-Rosmann said.
    The garden will be on the west side of the building.   The district is working with The Big Garden, Omaha, an expert non-profit on food insecurities education.  The company will grow the seedlings for HCS, “and we will do some direct seeding,” said Walsh-Rosmann.
    The Big Garden also provides teaching videos.
    Some of the costs for the project could be offset through grant opportunities, Walsh-Rosmann said.