'This is a big deal': 3,200-square-foot greenhouse for kids

The culmination of years of work, collaboration and donations from individuals and organizations, Freedom Gardens is now being used as a way to teach kids about agriculture, life cycles, sustainability, composting, aquaponics and engineering systems.

The project was conceived by Heath N. Carey in 2013, and after years of what he described as "adversity and challenges," he found a home and willing partner for the nonprofit at Frenchtown Schools in 2017.

"This is a fantastic thing for Frenchtown Schools," Carey said Wednesday. "This is a big deal. This is a great thing."

He had an epiphany once when he was explaining to a friend how to grow seedlings and decided he wanted to share the knowledge of food systems with the community.

"We've gotten past this laborious part of setting this thing up, and the fact that kids are gaining interest in it, the fact that the kids are in the greenhouse, that initial mission and goal of Freedom Gardens is met," he said. "Now we're venturing into this great future of what we're trying to do. This is an inspirational thing for students."

He believes Freedom Gardens will teach generations of kids about the necessity of a healthy ecosystem for quality food. 

"It's kind of fascinating when you think about the possibilities," he explained. "It's amazing how much the kids learn. 'How does that food get in the grocery store?'"

Frenchtown Intermediate School Principal Riley Devins is heavily involved in the project.

"Heath's kind of the visionary behind it," Devins said. "So he was the one that actually approached the school with a couple others and brought up he wanted to run a nonprofit that would be associated with the school district that would provide curriculum and content for kids on aquaponic systems."

They've provided 50 lessons for kids in the last year-and-a-half, Devins said, including an assignment to write from the perspective of a ladybug. 

The greenhouse has 1,200 heads of lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and microgreens that are sold to local restaurants like Plonk, Rumor and The Camino. The revenue helps the school to match grant funds, and the program also got a big boost from a $130,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm to School grant.

An AmeriCorps member helps the kids learn how to operate the complex system, which includes fish that produce waste for plants to eat. The plants' roots then clean the water after absorbing the nutrients, and the water then goes back to the fish. 

"As we continue to close the loop, we'll be growing worms and maybe someday we'll be growing other types of insects that are helping us compost and creating a food source for the fish," Carey said. "It's all stacking functions. What can we do inside the greenhouse to keep the greenhouse sustainable for the plant and fish needs."

Fifth-graders Rylee Campbell and Cora Karuzas have spent time at lunch collecting food scraps for the compost pile.

It's a fun job, they said, except when there's Ranch dressing on the greens.

The kids learn everything from the economics of selling the greens to why lettuce needs wind so it doesn't grow too thin.

Carey said young people now need to learn to adapt as climate change may wreak havoc on traditional agriculture systems in the future.

"It's all right here happening," he said. "It's very sustainable. In a way, we're tooling the future generations that are gonna to have the greater challenges to deal with and giving them access to the most cutting-edge technology education that they can get right here, right now."

Source and Photo Courtesy of Missoulian

Source: Missoulian