For gardeners, now is the prime time for growing fruits, vegetable and flowers to consume, sell or simply just to marvel at, however many young people don’t know where to begin when it comes to growing one’s own food.
Thankfully, Fayette County’s one-of-a-kind agriculture school is bringing the joy and importance of a garden to a new generation.
Locust Trace AgriScience Farm (LTAF) has much to offer students, including a working veterinarian clinic, an equine studies program and an aquaculture lab. Its latest venture comes by way of a garden area in front of the school.
Sara Tracy, LTAF community liaison, said the garden idea has been a part of the school’s plan since its inception.
“We planned from the beginning to have six and a half acres for a garden area,” she said.
Those plans include grapevines, a small orchard of 12 fruit trees and a rotation of vegetables and cover crops at least for the first few years to develop soil fertility, according to Tracy.
One of the most important aspects of the garden area will be a one-acre plot that will be divided and rotated among other local schools so their students may learn from LTAF students how to grow their own food and ultimately take it home with them, said Tracy.
This “sharing” idea will also help those students who want to take back a plan for a garden at their own schools.
“When these students take field trips, some groups come out to see the vet clinic and that is what those students are interested in seeing. But when we have students that are interested in starting a garden at their home school, they can specifically set up to come here and work with our plant- and land-science students. They can learn about things like raised beds or square-foot gardening that might be applicable to their home school.”
Projects such as the garden have created a lot of interest from other area schools, Tracy said, prompting many field trips to LTAF.
“We’ve had several elementary, middle and high schools, and even some private schools out already,” she added.
Such attention was something Tracy said was partially expected, due to the attention and support the school received throughout the community and region when the creation of LTAF was announced. Indeed, this unique high school has become an educational attraction not just for the region but in other states and even the world.
“We’ve had people visit from Denmark, Australia, Japan, China, Canada, — a little bit from all over,” said Tracy.
That attention has also spread to the state capital as well. After Locust Trace students visited the state’s Senate Agriculture Committee, the idea of planting a Governor’s Garden came up and took shape.
Officials from the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy and first lady Jane Beshear’s office worked to make the idea a reality at LTAF.
Beshear began the Governor’s Garden project after being inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s garden at the White House.
The idea of the project is to promote products that are grown and produced in Kentucky by local farmers; encourage state businesses, organizations, schools and communities to grow and maintain their own gardens; and educate the public about the health and economic benefits of community gardening and locally grown foods.
There are several other gardens planted around the state, and in most cases, students have participated and tended to the projects. Tracy said it seemed a natural fit for LTAF to host a Governor’s Garden.
One of the requirements of the program is to donate the food to the local community. Tracy said because of that, she thought it would be a good idea to give some of the food grown at Locust Trace to Fayette County’s Farm to School (FTS) program, something in which she is involved.
FTS is a collaborative effort among the USDA, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the University of Kentucky Extension and Nutrition Education Program, the Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Public Health.
The program introduces fresh, locally grown food to schoolchildren who might not otherwise have had a chance to experience the taste.
“It’s pretty exciting that some of the kids who have been out on a field trip or will be working the garden can take [the food] to their schools and say, ‘This came from Locust Trace.’ That will be really neat,” Tracy said.