HBOIERC Garden

Welcome to our HBOIERC Garden page. We first started gardening in our school during the 2016-17 school year. We purchased 60 Rubbermaid containers and placed them in an open area at the center of our school. Each class was assigned a bin and were responsible, during the school year, for that bin. The location was perfect because it had large windows encircling the area so students could see the vegetables as they grew. Our yield this first year was good but we wanted to expand into a bigger, more open area. The second year saw more volunteers helping out, and, with the help of some farm equipment, we were able to create a much bigger garden.

The garden is currently approximately 22,000 square feet. We had about 8 staff members who contributed to the garden and also numerous student volunteers. Next year we plan on setting up a basic irrigation system, and a fence to protect it from animals. We have plans to increase the depth of the soil in the future since some of it is shallow and also want to purchase more equipment that will help us make the garden more productive.

The vegetables we grew the second year included: carrots, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pumpkin, kale, cucumbers, corn, cabbage, zucchini, beans, peas, beets, and squash.

The vegetables we harvested this year were distributed throughout the community. We hoped to encourage local community members to begin their own gardens. We have had meetings with Band members who were impressed with our garden and who wanted to start a community garden of their own. Some of the vegetables were also claimed by our school kitchen and served to 1300 students and 200 staff . The garden helps support our breakfast and lunch programs. Most were impressed with the size and taste of the vegetables.

Our goals for the garden have been successfully achieved this year. We continue to learn a great deal every year and hope to put our new skills and knowledge into improving our yields in the years to come. Problems will be overcome with time and practice and we know that our students and community learn the benefits and joys of gardening on their own.