Green Thumb Club teaches gardening in St. Francisville school

February 2017

Thanks to a partnership between area nutrition agent, Layne Langley, and the LSU Agricultural Center, students at Bains Lower Elementary in St. Francisville have been taking advantage of monthly programs geared towards healthy eating and proper gardening. The Play 30 program has engaged these pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first-graders each month with the help of Play 30 coach, Lanya Mayer.

The students became members of the Green Thumb Club last September, during the nutrition and gardening classes. After learning how to use the garden tools, the students were able to prepare ten raised garden beds by pulling weeds. After cleaning the garden beds, the students planted vegetables – carrots, lettuce, cauliflower, snow peas, and more. Cucumbers were ready to pick from one of their previous plantings.

As the program progresses, the students are excited to continue expanding their garden. Plans are being made to construct a fence to prevent deer, who often wander into the garden and eat the plants. To support this effort, please contact Langley at (225) 635-3614 or lalangley@agcenter.lsu.edu.

 

Adapted from an article by The Advocate’s staff. You can find the original article here:

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/st_francisville/article_996955a4-be5c-11e6-a3c4-b3fb250a19a7.html