Like the rest of the world, the Old Town High School (OTHS) Alternative Education program was very much impacted by Covid. As schools were restricted to what they were able to do out in the community, OTHS Alternative Education found tremendous opportunity in its own backyard. Starting its 4th year in September of 2020, program staff realized that engaging students outside was going to be important during the early stages of transitioning back to school. Not really sure what to do, the program turned to gardening as a way to escape the building, yet stay on campus.
The program started by converting two retired PVC pipe soccer goals into a greenhouse. A “modern marvel” held together primarily with duct tape and zip ties, students learned less about gardening and construction, and more about overcoming setbacks, conflict resolution, and compromise.
Simultaneously, the program also decided that the highly-trafficked area where parents drop off students, needed a bit of a facelift. Alternative Ed students initiated, and continue to maintain, a deer-resistant perennial garden to include various herbs and plants.
Since the beginning of OTHS Alternative Education’s gardening, a number of school staff, individual community members, local businesses, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the Old Town Rotary Club have been tremendous community partners and supporters.
As an extension of its garden, for the past two years, students have spent numerous days at UMaine’s Rogers Farm, helping to harvest over 1,000 lbs of food for local food pantries. One of the food pantries, Caring Community Cupboard (located in Old Town) has been the recipient of some of the food. Students have had the experience of harvesting at Rogers Farm one day and volunteering at the food pantry the next day to see people appreciate the food (the OTHS Alternative Education program volunteers nearly 250 hours annually at Caring Community Cupboard). Students also support the Caring Community Cupboard by providing microgreens weekly and produce periodically, grown on the grow table donated by UMaine Cooperative Extension and greenhouse donated by the Old Town Rotary Club, respectively.
In a little over three years, the OTHS Alternative Education program has gone from not gardening at all to using gardening as a core part of the program. Students have been involved in the design, layout, construction, maintenance, and harvesting of the garden. As the need arises, they also help with the calculation of the loam, mulch, and compost. The program now oversees 4, 4×8 in-ground beds, 1, 4×8 raised bed, a 8×16 greenhouse, an approximately 300 square feet of deer-resistant perennial garden, and a 3-tier grow table.
Future projects under consideration for the OTHS Alternative Education program are to incorporate a hydroponics system into their growing repertoire, integrating a pollinator garden into a walking path and continue to develop the garden area into an outdoor classroom space.
Want to know more?!
- email Bryan Murphy, OTHS Alternative Education teacher, at murphy@rsu34.org.
- Rogers Farm Forage and Crop Research Facility in Stillwater is used for a wide range of sustainable agriculture research, extension, and teaching projects.
- Caring Community Cupboard
