Maine School Garden Day

Maine School Garden Day 2025: Hands in the Soil, Eyes on the Future!

Saturday May 10th
Messalonskee HS/MS, Oakland, ME

Inspired by Governor Mills’ proclamation of 2025 as the Maine Year of Youth in Agriculture, this year’s theme celebrates the incredible work being done across the state to engage and inspire the next generation of farmers and land stewards. Join us for this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow together!

We will kick off the day with a Keynote Address from Melody Larson, Farm Education Coordinator at Wolfe’s Neck Center. Melody will highlight WNC’s experiential education programs that connect food, agriculture, and the environment. She will share successes and challenges in garden-based learning, including strategies for making gardens accessible to all learners, engaging students of all ages, and adapting lessons to different learning styles. She will also discuss the value of outdoor education and what inspires WNC’s work.

The rest of the morning will be dedicated to connection and exploration. Participants will take part in our annual network breakout sessions by county and have the opportunity to tour both Messalonskee High School and Middle School. This year’s hosts, Beth Prelgovisk and Amanda Ripa, will lead groups through their school gardens, greenhouses, and showcase various indoor growing techniques. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn from peers, exchange ideas, and gain inspiration to bring back to your own school garden!

Lunch will be provided by Sunrise Bagels, featuring a delicious assortment of sandwiches and salads. During lunch, join us for our Calendar Launch Party celebrating the 2026 MSGN School Garden Calendar Fundraiser! MSGN Coordinator Susan Sager will lead the launch, recognizing this year’s photo contest winners. To mark the occasion, a special dessert will be served.

The afternoon will be packed with engaging workshops covering a variety of topics, from composting with worms to securing funding for your school garden projects. Each guest will have the opportunity to choose three out of six workshops that best align with their interests and goals.

The day will conclude with a giveaway of exciting door prizes, generously donated by our supporters.

MSGD 2024 Recap: Kingfield Elementary

Maine School Garden Day 2024 took place at Kingfield Elementary on Saturday, May 18th, with the theme “Harvesting Knowledge: Nourishing Minds Through School Gardens.” This theme perfectly captured the essence of the workshops, which offered guests a wealth of new ideas to cultivate.

The day began with a keynote address by School Garden Coach Laura Hoeft, who presented “School Gardens 101.” In the afternoon, attendees chose from a variety of workshops, including “Wild Foods: Teaching Outside the Borders,” “Growing Gardeners Curriculum Presentation,” “Cooking with Students,” “Procrastinator’s Garden: Planning for Fall Harvests,” and “Is Something Bugging You in the Garden?”

Participants had the opportunity to learn from a diverse group of leaders who shared unique perspectives and creative strategies for engaging students in outdoor education. The event also provided ample time for networking, allowing school garden enthusiasts to connect with others from their county and across the state.

Host Selina Warren offered a tour of Kingfield Elementary’s school gardens and its innovative outdoor classrooms, all set against the stunning backdrop of Maine’s High Peaks. It was a truly inspiring day of learning and community connection.

About Maine School Garden Day

Since 2005, the Maine School Garden Network has offered the Maine School Garden Day event to provide topic specific workshops, garden tours, networking opportunities and more for school garden volunteers, coordinators and educators! Interested educators can obtain CEU’s for participation in the event upon request.

In an effort to be accessible to educators around the state, Maine School Garden Day is held in a different location each year.

Past locations include:

During 2021 as a result of the pandemic, the in-person event was presented as a series of five webinars. Recorded using Zoom, these webinars are available on our YouTube channel.

The 2021 Maine School Garden Days webinars include:

Jumpstart Your Garden includes Summer maintenance and a tour of the East End school garden.
Planning Ahead: Back to School Gardens and Nutrition Education Connections include how to set up your space for low summer maintenance and be ready to roll in September, a garden tour at the Alfond Youth and Community Center plus a presentation on nutrition connections.
Taste Test and Harvest of the Month includes connections between the school garden, taste tests, and Maine’s Harvest of the Month program with a tour of RSU 22 school gardens.
Connecting School Gardens to Classrooms and Cafeteria presented by Falmouth Schools showcases the connection between the school orchard, gardens, classrooms and cafeteria including a food demo, tour of the school garden plus a presentation by Maine Agriculture in the Classroom to showcase resources, lessons and programs.
Building Long-term Support: School Boards, Administrators, Public Panel focused on ways to build long-term support for your garden and farm to school programming.