The Learning Garden

The Pathfinder School is excited to share all about our Learning Garden with you. This past week marked the completion of a year-long project which started off as one of my many “wild hair” ideas. I knew I would need some help and wanted  to provide an opportunity to involve our students at Pathfinder.  I connected with Rosali Collier, 4-H Coordinator, from the MSU Extension- Leelanau County.  The 4-H mission, to create non-formal educational opportunities to help youth thrive in a complex and changing world, complimented the Pathfinder school’s mission. I knew right away we were on the right path to grow the gardening program.  Rosali provided Junior Master Gardener curriculum for all age levels to the school at no charge and encouraged me to submit a project for their local 4-H grant cycle.  It was determined to expand the existing hoop house from 16x16 to 16x32.  This would provide an opportunity to have the students be involved in gardening with a spring harvest.  My project was submitted through the Leelanau County 4-H  and accepted this early fall.

Idea check. Funding check.  Now I just needed some students. So that is how the Junior Master Gardener MIAD was created.  The Junior Master Gardener program is an international youth gardening program of the University Cooperative Extension network. JMG engages children in novel, “hands-on” group and individual learning experiences that provide a love of gardening, develop an appreciation for the environment, and cultivate the mind. I used the program as the foundation and supplemented it with a dash of Pathfinder.  

The fall offered an opportunity for the students to reap the bounties of the many months of work over the summer.  Megan Gilger, 1st grade mom & owner of Fresh Exchange, generously donated all of the “starts” in the outside raised bed plants and tended to them over the summer months. Megan provided consultation and encouragement which spiraled into the amazing garden the students arrived at this September. We harvested basil and made pesto, we harvested eggplant to make breaded eggplant with marinara, cucumbers into pickles, and jalapenos wrapped in bacon.  Our highlight was the tomato harvest  which produced over 70 jars of salsa. We shared jars around the campus, brought some home, and sold 40 jars to our Pathfinder community.  This fundraising event provided $400 to supplement the $1,000 4-H grant to pay for the hoop house addition in full.  

Once the garden harvest was completed, the hard work began.  The students were “all in” on making the gardening program grow but it came with some digging and hard work.  A component of the MIAD was for the students to build the hoop house addition with guidance from myself.  I was impressed with their commitment to the project. We changed the layout of the beds, removed a door, installed a new door, installed new roll up sides, and increased the bed space from 80 sq ft to 200 sq ft.  We all learned from our hands-on experiences including myself.  

Tom Kain