The Richardson Middle School Garden Club

The Richardson Middle School in Dracut, Massachusetts has gotten a little bit greener.

Built in 2001, the Richardson Middle School included a greenhouse classroom in its design, but the space was never used as an operating greenhouse until this year. Over the winter, Richardson Principal Ms. McGuiness decided that the students were finally going to use the greenhouse. She emptied out the classroom, which had been being used as storage, and she contacted Bob Berube, Chair of the Dracut Agricultural Commission. Bob then asked his son and local farmer, Dan Berube, to assist in starting the greenhouse project. Dan led the team in ordering necessary materials and setting up the working greenhouse.

At the end of February, the Richardson Middle School Garden Club kicked off. Under Dan’s guidance, four teachers and a dozen students in grades six through eight convene each Thursday to learn plant-growing tips, understand the roles of soil and compost, and plant herbs, cucumbers, and various vegetables.

“The students are ambitious,” Dan said. “They’re growing lettuce, spinach, chard, basil, kale. Soon we’ll be planting tomatoes and beans.”

Dan said that the students are deeply invested in the greenhouse project.

“You can tell from their enthusiasm that they haven’t spent a long time outside, working in the soil, getting their hands dirty,” he said.

Dan said that it’s a shame Dracut youth aren’t interested in the farmland surrounding them, but he thinks the indifference can be reversed. He recounts one story in which he ate a leaf of lettuce the students had planted, and the children were in shock.

“They couldn’t believe I was eating something from the soil,” he said. “That’s why I love working with kids who haven’t experienced the farm life. We bridge the gap between where food comes from to how it ends up in the grocery store and on their plate.”

Dan credits the success of this project to the school’s principal, Ms. McGuiness, who has been motivated and involved in the process from the outset.

The club has not stopped at the greenhouse, though. The teachers and students are cleaning up the courtyard, building raised beds, and starting an outdoor garden in the open space. Dan hopes that by the end of the year, the students can take a field trip to his farm and watch the planting in action.