Our Elementary has an outdoor classroom space that had three garden beds just falling a part with no use to them. Surely this could be turned into something of great use for our Hornets to be able to have a classroom without walls and learn about nature. Mrs. Biggerstaff teaches science at our Elementary campus and saw the need. She began to do research on how to bring life to this garden. For years she researched and asked around for donations to help get the gardens funded. With no leads she went out to price and buy lumber to rebuild the garden beds. She got 9 timbers and quickly realized this was going to be a more costly project and had to take a brief pause. Mrs. Biggerstaff attended CAST (Conference for the Advancement of Science Teachers) and one of the sessions she attended was about school gardens and how to turn trash (tires, plastic containers, etc.) into gardening containers, what to plant, and how to involve students in the process. This gave so much insight that was needed to help drive this project. She then started calling businesses, nurseries, private members of our community and finally the Nueces County Agriculture Extension office. Where she learned about Learn, Grow, Eat and Go! Mrs. Biggerstaff, the ladies at the Agriculture Extension, and a couple parents came out during the summer of the 22-23 school year to build these beds before school started. Learn, Grow, Eat and Go! paid for soil, plants, seeds, and tools.
Our Hornets are learning about gardening, the importance of healthy eating and exercise habits and in the words of Mrs. Biggerstaff “the fun part… trying new vegetables”! Our students keep journals where they log the needs of plants, healthy habits for humans, formulate strategies for creating the most efficient garden space, make hypothesis, test out their ideas and record plant growth progress, and finally “grade” the taste of new and exciting plants. Last year, they cooked up Swiss chard and broccoli in the science lab and made homemade bruschetta with the fresh basil grown in their garden. Parents were emailing Mrs. Biggerstaff and told her that their children were requesting Swiss chard for dinner and wanted to share the recipes they cooked in the classroom with their families.
Mrs. Biggerstaff said she has even bigger plans this year and for the future. This school year, she is working with Mrs. Tyler, who is an art teacher at our Elementary campus, to create a beautiful sign/mural on a board they have at the gardens. On the other side she wants to create a weather station where classes can observe and record the weather. She has even mapped out a space to till up the land and plant pumpkins for fall and has established bluebonnet patches for the spring. Her ultimate dream would be to one day create an outdoor cooking space with an outlet to cook outside with a wash up station!
These gardens impact almost every single student here at the Elementary Campus. These gardens have garden beds that are also wheelchair accessible. Every student that comes to the science lab gets to play some role in the gardens. They even encourage staff to harvest some vegetables to try as well. Recently, their janitor Mrs. Claudia got to harvest a watermelon that she cared for all summer.
The Flour Bluff Elementary Gardens provide more than just plant growth and nourishment. They are also giving our Hornets and staff members the growth and nourishment we need as well. There is so much potential that lies here in the gardens of the Elementary Campus and we would like to thank our community partners and community members that are helping to shape the minds of our future. Together we can build real life experiences, inspire our students to reach beyond the classroom walls, foster the growth of knowledge and partnership, and empower our Hornets to be all that they can be.
