The school gardens at Twin Valley Middle High School continue to flourish under the care of the students and support from High School science teacher Sarah Grant. The garden program at the Deerfield Valley school started over ten years ago when it was the Whitingham Elementary/Middle School. When the Middle High School formed in 2014, construction unfortunately destroyed most of the gardens. One garden bed from that time remains.
In this new era, Sarah has been adding to that original garden bed, with generous support from Food Connects Farm to School donor, Sarah Shippee. In the 2020 - 2021 school year, they started with building a greenhouse and raised beds. This summer students took care of the garden, coming every day to water and weed. They were able to harvest vegetables several times, delivering them to Foodworks in Brattleboro and sharing them with the school community.
This fall the Community School, a program that serves students with developmental disabilities, will join the garden project, under the leadership of Alison Kelly. With Shippee’s support this year, Sarah and Alison are planning to buy some tools and plant starting supplies and build more beds. They plan to give away plant starts in the spring, something they do each year.
