Planting the Seedlings

It's time to plant our seedlings! What an exciting day. Many thanks to Kathy and her army of volunteers. They worked throughout the day in hot, steamy weather to make sure our seedlings all found homes in the beautiful beds. Can you believe the entire school planted their seedlings in one day?!?

Work Day- Finishing the Hoophouse

On April 30th, we added rich soil to our beds, gravel to the walkways, set up the water barrels and covered the hoop house with plastic. It was a busy,fun day with lots of helpful hands of all ages. Many thanks to all our volunteers and donors, especially Jackie Nooney for the beautiful soil!

The Planting of the Green

The planting of the green was a tremendous success! The students learned about seeds from Strawberry Banke's master gardener, John Forti, before being presented with their very own heritage seeds. The seeds ranged from purple carrots, to popcorn and everything in between. After the presentation, 300 students spread out in the gymnasium and cafeteria for a simultaneous planting of the green. What a fun way to celebrate St.Patrick's day and all things green! We were also fortunate to have Bill Rogers with us. Bill created a wonderful documentary of the day which can be viewed here.

Growing Green on St. Patrick's Day

 The press release we sent to local media today. Feel free to help spread the word!

Instead of wearing green this St. Patrick's Day, Central School students in South Berwick, ME will be growing green.  Thursday will be an all-school planting day. Local gardener and historian John Forti, of Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH. will come to the school to talk about gardening and planting. There will be readings, vegetable tastings, and then all the students will plant a heritage seed! The seeds will later be transferred to Central School's brand new Hoop House (which the students have named "Fresh Food Express") to begin Central School's First Garden. The hoop house is a small part of the school's new Outdoor Classroom which was designed, installed and maintained entirely by volunteers, school board members, families and local businesses. The gardening project is part of Michelle Obama's "Lets Move" initiative!. Nationally-renowned cookbook writer Kathy Gunst, along with local chefs and nutritionists,  have been donating their time teaching cooking and nutrition classes with the Central School students for the past year.

For more information contact:
Vicki Stewart, Central School principal at 384-2333
vstewart@msad35.net
Kathy Gunst: www.kathygunst.com
kathygunst@comcast.net

Dine Out

MEF Grants Awarded to Central School for Outdoor Enrichment

Central School is very grateful to both the Marshwood Education Foundation and Central School PTO for their support of both the Outdoor Classroom and Fine Arts Week. We couldn't do it without the support of our community. To learn more about Marshwood Education Foundation, click here to visit their website.

Fresh Food Express

On Tuesday, November 2nd, preK-third grade students had the opportunity to vote on a new name for the Hoop House Project. We had over 250 names suggested by the students. The list was narrowed down to five and the winning name was the "Fresh Food Express". We are looking forward to our next visit with Kathy Gunst on November 15th. She will be accompanied by Eileen Behan, a nutritionist, who has some great activities planned for the students.