Digging A New Garden For Hawley

By Eliza Hallabeck

In the rear area of the parking lot of Hawley Elementary School Tuesday, April 14, multiple people prepared a portion of land to be a vegetable and herb garden for the school.

There will be a sitting area for teachers and students, and an after school club will be created for third and fourth grade students at the school. The students will be taught how to grow and take care of vegetables and herbs.

“We’re going to focus on vegetables and herbs,” said Kat Barton, co-director of The Graceful Planet in town. Ms Barton said she was talking to Nina Stout, a nutritionist involved with Fair Foods in Fairfield County, a group putting effort, she said, to bring nutritional foods into schools, and a member of the Hawley PTA, when the idea for the garden was born.

Fair Foods in Fairfield County also raised $136 for the Hawley garden, Ms Stout said.

“The whole thing will be expanded to be a whole garden when we are done,” said Ms Barton.

On Tuesday the group was working around a time capsule buried by students in 2000, and Ms Barton said the project will not touch the capsule.

Through the school PTA, the garden effort was put together during the course of a few weeks, according to Ms Barton. Ms Barton also said she will be working with the after school program and creating the garden while working toward 30 hours of community service through the University of Connecticut Extension Program to become a Master Gardener.

“This is sort of ‘get the garden ready day,’” said Ms Barton. She also said the after school program had not yet started, but would take up to 20 students, depending on the number of parent volunteers.

“This is probably our major day of work,” she said.