School garden involves Abbotsford students

Students in agriculture classes this past summer and fall had the opportunity to grow different vegetables in the school garden plot located next to the greenhouse by Abbotsford High.

Numerous vegetables were planted in the spring, including cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, onions, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. The size of the garden is about 60 feet wide by 60 feet long, allowing for a large harvest.

As school began this fall, and the vegetables matured, they were harvested by the students, washed, cut up and then frozen. Students had the opportunity to take the produce home with them. Some was given to the school lunch program, and some was provided to the food bank program that is sponsored by St. Bernard’s Catholic Church for their Thursday drive throughs.

Over five hundred pounds of tomatoes and peppers were given to the food bank this year from over 150 plants grown in Abbotsford’s school garden.

One of the reasons for having the school garden is to encourage students to begin a garden at their homes, and be able to produce some of their own home grown vegetables. Students spend time in the classroom talking about germination of seeds, requirements for good plant growth, benefits of having a garden and how to process and store the vegetables after they’re harvested.

Many schools in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota have a program called “Garden in the Box”, which is sponsored by the Minnesota Horticulture Society, where elementary students are given a small area of a garden site and they can grow plants of their own. It’s an exciting program, and many students are involved in its success.

The cabbage plants harvested in the garden are used to make sauerkraut in class. Students shred the cabbage heads using a kraut cutter, and then after adding salt in a pan, squeeze the cabbage for about fifteen minutes until it brings out the water.

The shredded cabbage is then placed into a large crock pot for fermentation for about two months. About twelve gallons of sauerkraut was made this year, and it was delicious.