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Johnston County Cooperative Extension, West Smithfield Elementary open teaching garden; students held "salad party"
Summary
Johnston County Cooperative Extension and West Smithfield Elementary this month opened a grant-funded teaching garden, using master-gardener volunteers and a high-school shop-class partnership to create irrigated planting beds and outdoor classroom benches.
Meredith Wood of the Johnston County Cooperative Extension told the Board of Commissioners on Aug. 4 that the extension office worked with West Smithfield Elementary and community volunteers to convert an underused school plot into an irrigated teaching garden.
"I am so excited to be here this evening to share something that we've been doing through our office in partnership with one of our local schools," Wood said. She described a year-long effort that included a grant, master gardener volunteers, support from the West Johnson High School shop class to build painted benches and horticulture expertise from Marshall Warren.
Wood said the garden includes multiple raised boxes (the middle boxes were used as pollinator beds), an irrigation system tied to the school so staff and students do not have to hand-water, and garden-observation journals that students used to record weather, planting and harvest notes. "We harvested what they grew, and then they were able to make a salad and enjoy it," Wood said, describing a spring "salad party" that involved about 90 students.
Carmen Barnes, assistant principal at West Smithfield Elementary, spoke about the school's effort to build community partnerships and asked for volunteers and donations. Barnes said the school will welcome teachers back on Aug. 11 and noted "they haven't been paid since May 28," asking for community help to stock teacher workrooms with food and water donations.
Extension staff and volunteers at the meeting included Marshall Warren (horticulture agent), Nicole Youngblood (extension agent), and master gardeners identified as Frank and Cynthia; Wood credited volunteers for transplanting seedlings and managing upkeep. Commissioners praised the project and extension outreach; one commissioner noted the extension's contribution to land-use and education work across the county.
Organizers asked community members and businesses to contact the school or Cooperative Extension to volunteer or donate toward sustaining the garden and teacher workroom supplies.
