ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Patrick DeFelice, left, and instructor Jill Dillon water the vegetable garden in the greenhouse at Swampscott Middle School.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Students at Swampscott Middle School will get a chance to sample vegetables grown in the school’s greenhouse at Thursday’s lunch.
During first lunch at 11:30 a.m., about a dozen students who belong to either the middle school’s Garden Club or Substantially Separate Classroom will be serving samples of lettuce and kale.
Garden Club members are also collaborating with Maureen Kellett, food director, to make dressing, made with herbs from their harvest mixed with oil and vinegar, which will be served during the tasting.
“We just want the kids to see the difference, local versus California,” said Kellett. “The taste is so much better.”
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Kellett said another purpose of the tasting was to make more students aware of the school’s garden so they could potentially get involved.
Sophia Nelson and Emmaline Wood, two 12-year-olds with the Garden Club will be serving samples. Nelson also participated in a similar tasting at the middle school last year and said some students liked the vegetables so much that they came up for extra helpings.
“It’s satisfaction that you did it yourself,” she said about serving student-grown vegetables.
Wood said she expects the tasting to be popular with her fellow students.
“I feel like it’s a better choice to eat that,” she said.
The greenhouse was started last year after the school was given a grant to grow food. The Garden Club, run by Gail Anderson, has been in charge of growing and harvesting the vegetables since its inception. But after the tasting, the reins will be handed over to Jill Dillon, a language-based teacher, and her students in the Substantially Separate Classroom, which is made up of students with special needs.
In addition to the greenhouse, lettuce is also being grown in the cafeteria with grow lights. The tray area with lights will be moved to Dillon’s classroom for the winter months.
Patrick Defelice, 14, Kaio Stevens, 14, and Nathaniel Lorenz, 13, are students from Dillon’s classroom who have been involved in greenhouse production and will be participating at the upcoming tasting.
“I’ve been watering them and harvesting (the vegetables),” Defelice said.
Dillon said it takes about five weeks of growing for a harvest. She plans on having at least two other tastings in the cafeteria this year. Some of the vegetables in the garden already go into school lunches during the year besides the scheduled samplings.
“(Growing and harvesting vegetables) also builds a lot of responsibility for my kids and accountability,” Dillon said.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley
