Lowell — A speedy woodchuck darted between crops, over and under plants, and back and forth across the half-acre Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience & Environmental Education Center Community Garden.
Two dozen young greenthumbs busy pulling weeds at Junior Master Gardener Camp squealed with delight, discarding their tools to run after the creature and usher it out of the garden gate. “Where did he go?”… “Where did that woodchuck come from?” students shouted.
The chunky herbivore was an apropos visitor to the garden, where students are learning the many components needed to grow thriving crops. The theme of this year’s camp is “Wildlife Gardener,” so along with vegetables, fruits and flowers, students are focusing on toads, snakes, birds, insects and other critters that impact a garden.
“We are learning about how wildlife can be beneficial and sometimes harmful to your garden and how to manage that,” said Shannon Goodwin, a naturalist and teacher at the center.
Lulu Duffy, a local fifth-grader, said she’s glad her designated piece of land was starting to sprout a bit despite a nibbling visitor of some kind.
“This is the third time I’ve had to replant this plot. When I first got it it was really weedy,” she said. “See these beet roots? Something’s been eating some of these leaves. … I’m just hoping something is going to grow before the farmer’s market.
“It just kind of goes to show where your food comes from and how hard farmers work to get food into the grocery stores.”
‘A lot of the things they are learning here are things they will continue to learn about in their classes at school.’
— naturalist Shannon Goodwin
Where Food Comes From
Lowell Middle School sixth-grader Megan Uramkin reflected on her time at camp, offered through the Wittenbach Center.
“We’ve learned all about agriculture; we’ve learned how to take care of our plants; how to cook; how to weed our plants; and we are also learning how to sell our plants,” she said. “I’ve always had a liking for plants and growing my own food.”
Junior Master Garden Camp, scheduled 10 days over eight summer weeks, challenges fourth- through eighth-graders to try their hand at gardening in the Community Garden. Younger students learn from older, returning students, who are dubbed Garden Gurus. Each guru is in charge of their own raised garden bed.
They also spend a portion of time making crafts — toad abodes, for example — and learning to use the fruits and veggies from their harvest in recipes such as spinach quesadillas and protein energy bites containing honey collected from the center’s hive. They also made beeswax lip balm to sell at Lowell Area Farmers’ Market and have plans to sell garlic there as well.
“We talk about how you can make healthy, yummy food using things that are in the garden,” Goodwin said.
The center, at 11715 Vergennes St. SE, offers programming for Lowell Area Schools during the school year and camps during the summer, which are open to students outside of the district as well. Junior Master Naturalists Camps, for third- through fifth-graders, focus on birding and Green Adventures is also focused on gardening but geared toward second- and third-graders.
A major mission of the center is to teach children where their food comes from. “This program feeds directly into that mission,” Goodwin said. “All of the activities we do here are tied to science standards for Lowell schools. A lot of the things they are learning here are things they will continue to learn about in their classes at school.”
Students become certified as Junior Master Gardeners by Texas A&M Agrilife Extension. They also learned about agriculture by visiting a student organic farm at Michigan State University.
Much of the harvested food is donated to the food pantry at Flat River Outreach Ministries.
Courtney Cheers, Wittenbach/Wege Center Director, said students learn about the patience needed in gardening, as they wait for sprouts and manage weeds.
“Hopefully they reap the rewards. We talk about the (fable) “The Tortoise and the Hare” and who wins the race when we are weeding. Another good one is, ‘Inch by inch it’s a cinch and yard by yard it’s hard.’ A little teamwork goes a long way.”
Read more from Lowell:
• Where does your milk come from? Second-graders learn the process
• Outdoor classroom serves as 150-acre sanctuary for learning
