Farm program grows leaps and bounds

Katie Teachout, The Journal | Last updated May 27, 2021 8:22am0

Lind-Ritzville Middle School submitted photo count

Students from Mr. Palmer's shop class at Lind-Ritzville Middle School built a set of compost bins for the Farm to School class. Front row, from left, is Camron Olson, Wyatt Rosman, and Zach Klein. In the back row are Brody, Boness, Jayce Kelly, and Alexis Mendoza.

LIND – Students at Lind-Ritzville Middle School are busy planting vegetables and composting waste to enrich the soil in a Farm to School program.

"The Farm to School class students have planted potatoes, Swiss chard and radishes," Amanda Mattingly, Vocational Ag teacher, said last week. "They will also plant more right at the end of the year, to be managed by a student over the summer and harvested when we return to school in the fall."

The school farm is located behind the football field.

Mattingly said the school received a grant this year from the Washington Department of Ecology for over $3,000 to start a compost program at the school.

Students collect food waste from the school to be composted.

"The class will manage it daily," Mattingly said. "Mr. Palmer's shop class built the outdoor bins for the Farm to School class to manage the compost once it is outside. This has been a fantastic cooperation between classes."

Author Bio

Katie Teachout, Editor

Katie Teachout is the editor of The Ritzville Adams County Journal. Previously, she worked as a reporter at The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle, the Oroville Gazette-Tribune, Northern Kittitas County Tribune and the Methow Valley News. She is a graduate of Western Washington University.