Etna Dixmont School Garden

Started in 2016, the Etna-Dixmont School Garden currently consists of a vegetable and herb garden as well as flowers and ornamentals. The school garden has a hoop house, works with their cafeteria to provide a farm to table experience and conduct taste tests plus runs an after school club and summer school program! The school is scheduled to get an orchard through ReTreeUs this coming fall and can’t wait to start growing peaches, pears and apple trees!

Located in rural Penobscot county, their school garden serves as a place that brings the local community together. For example, this year they hosted their very first seedling sale and it was an amazing success to witness all of the community support for this type of programming at the school. For the last 2 years they have been seed saving (they sold seeds at their seedling sale!) and this season they are expanding and saving seeds from spinach, peas, and parsnips. Last year they hosted a MSGN School Garden Summer Tour offering a chance for school gardeners in the area to gather with peers, relax, reflect on the school year and growing season, and share a meal together.

The Etna-Dixmont School has also found out how simple it is to participate in the School Garden Grown! Program when they entered produce for the first time at the Common Ground Fair. “We went to the Common Ground Fair, submitted our school produce and immediately our entries had stickers that indicated ours was from a school,” says Maggie Blumenthal, Garden Coordinator Etna-Dixmont School. “When the 4th graders visited the fair they were so proud of themselves, we even got some 1st place ribbons!

One way to enjoy outdoor space is to engage all five senses – touch, sound, sight, smell and taste – in a sensory garden. This year they are planning on creating a 5 Senses Garden where students can connect to nature by becoming more aware of their surroundings and their responses to them.

Currently the summer school program is giving students access to the school garden for about an hour a week providing some extra helping hands in the garden because as school garden coordinators are well aware, it’s great to have the ability to share the summer growing season with students!