Columbus Elementary School dedicates new teaching garden

APPLETON — Columbus Elementary School, the site of the Community Garden Partnership's newest teaching garden, is hoping to get its families and neighbors involved from summer tending to harvest time and beyond.

At a dedication ceremony Friday, urban garden coordinator Susan Richardson encouraged students to keep up the good work they had started.

Students began by planting seeds indoors and later transplanting them to the beds in the garden off the school's Winnebago Street parking lot.

"During the summer when you're out riding your bike or coming through the neighborhood, stop by and see how things are growing," Richardson told the students.

Columbus' garden is one of three teaching gardens supported by the Community Garden Partnership, a program of Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin Inc.

The others are adjacent to Jefferson Elementary School in Appleton's Pierce Park, and at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley's Menasha campus.

Richardson said Jefferson plans to add an herb and flower garden so neighbors can come to cut bouquets.

At UW-Fox Valley, she said, gardeners from diverse backgrounds are building community by teaching one another how to cultivate and use plants from the Polish, American Indian, Hmong, Turkish and Indian cultures.

Four other community garden sites hold plots that gardeners tend for a rental fee.

Students on Friday officially opened the Columbus teaching garden by helping to cut a ribbon festooned with seed packets.

Ribbon-cutters Noah Faber, 7, and Desmond Keys, 9, both said they like having a garden at school.

"If people are poor they can choose food from here," said Noah, who is in first grade.

Added third-grader Desmond, "I like it because I think it makes Columbus look better."

The school is waiting for a yield that includes mixed greens, radishes, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans and peppers.

Principal Jennifer Dordel said the garden is a teaching tool that will provide everything from healthy snacks to science experiments.

Dordel said members of Zion Lutheran Church, which is across the street from Columbus, and residents of the nearby Oneida Heights apartment complex have volunteered to help tend the gardens.

Summer school students, and the school's Boy and Girl Scouts also plan to add their personal touches, Dordel said.

"Everyone will have a part to play in it as well as being able to receive the bounty from it," she said.

Kara Patterson can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or kpatterson@postcrescent.com.