Our compost bin recycles plant materials. The students enjoy turning the pile and adding plant waste. Each year they are surprised to discover how the plant materials change from a waste material into a product that is helpful to the garden.

In our school environmental project, students, staff, and parents work to improve the school surroundings. We now include a variety of environmental activities. Our vegetable garden is planned by the fourth grade and planted and maintained by the entire school. We include many different types of vegetables to help children learn by seeing the differences and experiencing new tastes.

We include annual and perennial plants in our flower and butterfly garden. We talk about which flowers and plants help the butterflies and moths in our area. The addition of bird boxes and our water garden with three small ponds and cascading waterfalls has attracted more birds to our garden area. Watching the variety of birds and noting their different behavior and flights was of great interest this spring.

We also have a fall bulb planting program which includes early, midseason, and late tulips, daffodils, and crocus. The children study the many different types of bulbs and note their differences. This year we have begun work on rejuvenating our woodland trail. We cut some of the underbrush and used the cuttings to create habitats for various woodland animals.

In our butterfly garden we attract beneficial insects by providing a variety of host plants. We use no harmful chemicals in any of our gardens. We control weeds by hoeing and mulching. A local farmer contributes sheep manure and a woodworker brings us sawdust. The students rake the grass clippings from the schoolyard. The electric power company provides us with wood chips, which are placed around the trees and shrubs in the schoolyard and also used on woodland trail. We collect water in a rain barrel and during the spring planting and summer gardening sessions the students water with sprinkling cans. We supplement with the hose if necessary.

Many companion plants share our wide rows. Marigolds have saved our plants from Colorado Potato Beetles. The three sisters (squash, corn, and beans) live happily together. Radishes, onions, lettuce, and carrots share rows and as each plant is harvested it provides room for the carrots to spread their roots. Herbs such as basil, dill, lemon balm, marigolds, nasturtium, parsley, petunias, sage, summer, savory, tansy, and yarrow grow among the plants in our vegetable, perennial, and butterfly gardens. Many of these plants serve a dual purpose. Our compost bin and manure from local farms help make our garden soil rich. One classroom raised mealy worms that were turned loose in the garden.

We put no materials in the compost that would serve as an attraction for vermin.

Our goal in having an organic garden is threefold. It helps the environment now and hopefully it will increase the students’ awareness of the need to protect the environment. It encourages future generations to maintain a pesticide-free garden because they will understand why organic gardening is important and how to create an organic garden. Through a butterfly and water garden program we are working to enhance the beauty of our surroundings and hopefully avoid ever having a "silent spring."