Since their last School Garden of the Month profile in 2024, the Stratton School Garden Program has continued to grow, not just in the garden, but across the school and into the wider community.
After “graduating” from FoodCorps, they were thrilled when the school board approved a year-round School Nutrition and Garden Coordinator position. This commitment has allowed outdoor learning, gardening, nutrition, and farm-to-school education to become deeply embedded in the culture of their school.
They have also:
- joined the Maine Farm to School Network,
- participated in a Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance case study highlighting their community Harvest Festival as an example of how schools and communities can work together to promote healthy living,
- successfully collaborated with ReTreeUS to establish a 200-by-200-foot orchard on the school grounds.
For their youngest students, experiential garden beds continue to provide hands-on opportunities to grow herbs, make tea, harvest and dry plants and package products to sell as fundraisers for garden and classroom projects. These experiences connect students directly to the food they grow while building responsibility, creativity, entrepreneurship and a sense of place.
This year brings another exciting opportunity to expand their vision. A grant from the Onion Foundation is supporting the Maine Local Living School in collaborating with Stratton School to develop and enrich our outdoor learning curriculum. Chris Knapp will be working with their students throughout the school year, with a particular focus on grades 3–5, helping them deepen their work in the school gardens, orchard and surrounding forests.
Meanwhile, their strong farm-to-school program continues to connect students with the food they eat through creative efforts to source local foods and opportunities to grow, harvest, prepare, and share food together. Students in Pre-K through eighth grade participate in harvesting garden produce and students help prepare, cook, serve and clean up for their annual Harvest Festival, which remains a highlight of the school year.
During the winter, the Middle School Cook-Off brings the same spirit of food, creativity, and teamwork indoors. Students are also continuing to develop the orchard by creating protocols, building their knowledge of the orchard and the seven layers of a forest and sharing what they learn with younger students. Through these experiences, students are discovering the connections between plants, people, food, forests and a healthy ecosystem.
Perhaps the most meaningful part of their program is that it continues to be a community effort. The Stratton Lions Club, local gardeners, foresters, builders, and other community members generously share their time, knowledge, and skills with their students. Their goal is not simply to maintain a garden but to build a sustainable model of learning that connects children to their food, their community, and the natural world around them.
Through creative partnerships, grant writing, community involvement and a commitment from their school, they are continuing to grow something that will last well beyond a single season:
a culture of outdoor learning that takes root in their students and in the community itself.
Want to know more?!
- MSGN Stratton Farm to School Garden Program 2024 SGOM Profile
- Katie Wuori, School Nutrition and Garden Coordinator at kwuori@strattonschool.org
- Stratton School Garden Page
