NAHANT — Members of the Johnson Elementary School “Green Team” carefully carried boxes of fresh greens into the Anchor Food Pantry this week, delivering the first harvest from their new school greenhouse to help families in the Swampscott and Nahant communities.
The boxes contained the first crops grown by the student gardening group, an after-school program in which dozens of Johnson School students learn to plant, grow, and harvest food while also giving back to their neighbors.
The Green Team has quickly become one of the school’s most popular programs. More than a third of Johnson School’s students — 53 out of 137 — now participate in the after-school greenhouse project, tending plants and learning how their work can help others in the community.
For organizers, the project was designed to teach more than just gardening. “It’s the idea of giving back to those that don’t have as much as they have right now,” Nahant Superintendent Robert Liebow said.
Liebow said the greenhouse will serve several purposes. The students’ produce will be used in the school cafeteria for fresh and sustainable lunches. Future harvests may make their way to the Anchor Food Pantry and to local farmers’ markets, where students will likely run a farm stand on a suggested donation basis.
The multiple uses of the greenhouse will help the Johnson school teach students valuable life lessons, Liebow said. He hopes the farmers’ market will provide students with hands-on experience in marketing, pricing, and entrepreneurship while continuing to support community causes.
The students who attended the drop-off also received a first-rate lesson from volunteers at the Anchor Food Pantry. President Susan Downes-Cripps and another volunteer, Kim Carmody, gave the students a tour of the storefront-style stockroom. Students learned about the different categories of food items and what the food pantry offers to help families make well-balanced meals each week — something their produce will support.
The greenhouse is a relatively new addition to the small coastal school, made possible largely through the generosity of an anonymous donor who contributed approximately $80,000 to build and equip the space.
Johnson Elementary, Nahant’s only public school, serves students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Given the school’s small size, teachers and staff often emphasize hands-on learning and projects that connect students with the broader community. The greenhouse program grew out of that philosophy, offering students a chance to learn science and sustainability with a tangible (and very green) result.
The first crops this season focused on greens like lettuce and kale, which grow quickly and thrive in greenhouse conditions.
“We’re going to be sort of specializing in lettuce,” Liebow joked during the delivery as the group unpacked the produce at the pantry. The group has also planted other crops, such as tomatoes, though they are still growing for a future harvest.
For the students who helped grow the vegetables, seeing the food leave the greenhouse and arrive at the pantry offers a tangible lesson in how their work can help others. At a small school like Johnson, that sense of connection comes naturally.
“I think it’s nice for them to have a small school where they all know each other and they all care for each other,” Liebow said. “It’s a wonderful thing to see.”
Those familiar with gardening know it is rewarding but requires patience. The Johnson School students were buzzing with excitement at seeing months of work — from planting seeds, weeding and watering, and measuring plant growth — come to fruition (or to kale-ition, more literally).
The students, who were also excited for a post-drop-off meal at Seaside Pizza, left the food pantry knowing their hard work had produced results that would help others. And that rewarding feeling is a source of momentum for all the Green Team’s harvests yet to come.
