The Greenhouse Revitalization day on Saturday, Oct. 13th was a great success. The area was prepped for the clean-up day by Mr. Tomah and some of his students. There was extra participation by some of his FFA members for the preliminary work.
The work day started out great with workers showing up with a great spirit of community involvement. A total of 17 individuals arrived. There was representation from the Parent-Teachers Organization, Master Gardeners, Center for Sustainable Community, Colfax Law Enforcement, Blue Sky Ranch, Vermejo Park Ranch, students, administrative/school staff members. The work began at 8:00 am and was completed by 10:30 am. The greenhouse is now organized and ready for plants and revitalized for instruction.
This action was a response to compliment the great success from the Raton Intermediate School Garden. During the 2017-18 school term, Ms. Fitzgerald spearheaded a school garden program by facilitating community support for that initiative. She wrote and received 3 grants. They are the Whole Kids Foundation, Kidsgardening and Sloat Prince. The program she has built utilized these funds in conjunction with donations from Alpine Builders, Records ACE Hardware, Center for Sustainable Community, City of Raton, Colfax County, Mount Calvary Cemetery and Raton Public Schools maintenance, the RIS Principal and staff volunteers. Her students planted in the donated raised beds growing produce. The garden was maintained with volunteer community members and students all summer with Ms. Fitzgerald’s overseeing the continuation during the off-school season. The harvest from the garden was used at the beginning of this school term for a student made meal served this fall at RIS.
Photo Credit RIS Outdoor Photos: Robert Wick Raton Intermediate School
The next step will be for the members of this community outreach to join the FFA for a meeting to discuss protocols and planning. The planning will be based upon existing grants that need to fulfilled. This meeting time will be announced soon but is tentatively planned one evening during first full week of November.
An extra special thank you and shout out to the Raton Parent Teachers Organization for funding and helping get the Arthur Roll-Off. This project could not have taken place without their financial support and the work of the volunteers from that group. Also, thank you for all of the individuals who donated your time and effort to the greenhouse revitalization.
Submission credit: Jo Ahlm Photo Credit Raton High School Greenhouse: Jo Ahlm and Alice Fitzgerald Raton Public Schools
