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Schools

Wilton High School's Organic Garden Flourishes

Friday afternoon's celebration at the school honored all those involved with its success.

The Wilton High School garden may have had a bit of a tough start -- the student garden was broken into during its first year -- but all things are looking up toward the sun for this educational project.

After classes let out on Friday a variety of people involved with the garden got together for the high school’s Organic Garden Celebration.

“I think what Jim [Hunter] and Kate [Eckenrode] have done here and how they have perservered and encouraged staff and students to get involved shows social entrepreneurism at its best,” said garden supporter Jesse Fink. The Fink Foundation donated funding to the garden and has been a huge supporter of it since its inception.

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Betsy and Jesse Fink are quite involved with organic gardening all over the country, but especially enjoy seeing Wilton reap the benefits of their support.

The Finks are the proprietors of Millstone Farm in Wilton, which is another large supporter of the high school garden; Master Farmer Annie Farrell donated many hours of her time helping Hunter and his students learn about organic gardening at its finest.

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The garden may have been started by biology instructors Jim Hunter and Kate Eckenrode, but both teachers are quick to admit that it’s the students who do all the work. There is a lot of tending to the vegetables and herbs, even with an automatic irrigation system. The students started all of the plants from seed in the school’s greenhouse and then transplanted the seedlings into the garden. There are pole beans sprouting, the tomatoes are growing wonderfully and the spinach, arugala and lettuce will be harvested next week and given to the school’s cafeteria company Chartwell’s for use in the school lunches.

“The only thing that we do is give them the confidence, but they do all the work,” said Eckenrode of her hard working students, who use free periods to work on the garden.

High school sophomore Stephanie Garbey actually spent her lunch period on Friday to work in the garden because she finds it so much fun.

“I planted the eggplant, squash and a lot of the tomatoes,” said Garbey of what she has been doing the past few weeks.

However, school will be ending soon for the summer and Hunter is looking forward to tending to the crops himself while classes are out. All the yield from the garden during the summer will be donated.

If you would like to get an up-close look at the Wilton High School Garden, please contact Millstone Farm manager Farah Masani at fmasani@millstonefarm.org to express interest in a summertime Community Day.

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