Children's Way Students Hone Their Gardening Skills

About a dozen Wayland preschoolers showed off their "green thumbs" recently, and it wasn't due to finger paint.

Students at The Children's Way joined the parents and adult volunteers on June 4 to plant sage, rosemary, lavender, basil, cilantro and lots of marigolds at the Hannah Williams Ecological Food Garden located behind the playground area at Hannah Williams Park.

Resident Kaat Vander Straeten said this type of cross-generational event was an ideal consequence of the garden at a location known for its playground. Vander Straeten was instrumental, along with Department of Public Works Director Don Ouellette and Wayland Beautification, in getting the garden planted for its first season last year.

"What better thing for the preschoolers who play at the playground daily to come and plant in the garden?" Vander Straeten told Patch. "This is what the garden was made for: a place that welcomes everyone to come and plant, weed, learn and eat. 

Daria Greeley and Jamie Larsen are room parents for the Panda Class at TCW and helped organized the gardening excursion.

Greeley said the outing was decided upon as a fun end-of-the-year event that aligned well with the children's classroom experiences learning about spring, planting bean seedlings and discovering the life cycles of butterflies.

"Not only was it fun for them, but [the gardening] also modeled for the children the importance of contributing to the community," Greeley said in an email. "In a setting like the Hannah Williams Playground (a favorite place to hang out in town) it made this project even more special!"

The children will be able to monitor the herbs they helped plant thanks to Popsicle sticks featuring their first names by each seedling.

"Our goal is to extend this to the larger TCW community and have it be a school wide community service project going forward," Greeley explained, adding that both her and Larsen's children will be at TCW next year, so they intend to help again in the fall. "The director of the school, Cheryl Fertig, is very supportive and welcomes our efforts and working with [Vander Straeten] has been a pleasure!"

Vander Straeten pointed out that the garden is intended to be a place where visitors can harvest and enjoy the fruit, vegetables and more grown there. She said that prior to the arrival of TCW gardeners, older children had harvested and eaten the ripe strawberries growing in the garden.

"There will be more ripening over the next couple of weeks," Vander Straeten added.

Anyone interested in helping to maintain the Hannah Williams Ecological Food Garden is invited to email kaat@transitionwayland.org.