Monday afternoon means harvest time at the Northfield School of Arts and Technology (ARTech).
Since the first of April, students have been cutting greens, picking radishes and preparing take-home parcels of fresh vegetables for the 13 families who signed up for ARTech’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project.
The vegetables are grown in a greenhouse-like structure called a high tunnel, located behind the school. has helped students learn about such diverse topics as government permitting processes (they needed city approval to construct the greenhouse) and the amazing power of solar heat. Despite frigid temperatures outside this winter, temperatures in the unheated hoop house never dropped below zero.
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“We had one day in February when it was 37 degrees outside and 104 degrees inside,” recalled Amelia Schmelzer, a 10th-grader who has been a leader in the project. “We had to open the windows that day.”
The $10,000 project was funded through grants from the Northfield Union of Youth, the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative and the Minnesota Clean Energy Resource Team, as well as private fundraising and the $50 per family fee for the CSA shares. The money paid for the greenhouse kit that students used to build the structure and allowed the school to hire farmer-in-residence Andrew Ehrmann to assist the students as they planned, planted, tended and harvested their crops.
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After the greenhouse went up last fall, the students cleared sod and hand-tilled the soil to prepare the beds, which has been turned into a pile of rocks next to the greenhouse, a testament to the students’ effort.
After surveying school families about what they would like to see grown in the greenhouse, students purchased seeds and planted the crops in February. Since then, they have been watering—sometimes twice a day—monitoring weeds and planting more seeds to get a succession of crops.
Lessons Learned
Projects such as the greenhouse often cover multiple academic subjects, said Todd Thompson, an ARTech adviser and math, science and music specialist, who has been involved with the greenhouse project. In addition to biology, students learned about economics and government through the CSA and its funding, he noted. They also discovered the satisfactions and occasional frustrations that go with growing food.
For instance, the students tried to grow potatoes, but lost their crop to hungry voles, Schmelzer said. While some crops struggled along, others were too succesful, she said. Next year, they will likely plant more spinach, which, “everybody likes,” Schmelzer said, but less of the Asian green, mizuna.
“That one grows a little too fast,” she said.
Students have enjoyed working in the greenhouse during the cold winter, Schmelzer said. Even on very cold days, the greenhouse was warm and pleasant.
“It’s also really nice to have something to do that isn’t sitting at a desk,” she said. “It’s nice to get away from your computer.”
What’s Next
The ARTech CSA will continue for another week, Schmelzer said, and the greenhouse will be used during the final weeks of school for a special May-term class on food and cooking. Plans to use the greenhouse more next year are in the works, and Schmelzer hopes to be planting again in August for a fall and winter crop.
