The Algonquin garden spot in Northborough

The strawberries, zucchinis, snap peas and Swiss chard are ripe for the picking in Algonquin Regional High School's courtyard.

Though summer vacation began last week, faculty and students will tend to the garden during July and August and into the school year - weeding it and picking tomatoes, squash, herbs and other fruits and vegetables to be frozen for use this fall.

When the new school year begins, the culinary arts and nutrition classes will tend to the garden, prepare it for next year's growing season and use its harvest to make batches of strawberry jam, zucchini muffins or marinara sauce.

The garden project is one of several initiatives under way in the courtyard, a place rapidly becoming an outdoor classroom for students to learn lessons across multiple disciplines.

"It has generated enthusiasm with both teachers and students," said Sue Halpin, nutrition and culinary arts teacher. "I was really hoping it would become a community project."

The garden has done just that, with local residents, businesses and organizations donating money, seeds and plants, gardening equipment, and even an irrigation system, to help the project grow.

The garden is doing its part by giving back to the community in the form of salad greens, snap peas and other vegetables picked and delivered weekly to the Northborough Food Pantry. Over the last two weeks, the garden has yielded more than 18 bags of greens for the pantry.

Halpin's classroom looks out on the courtyard, which was little more than an open, weedy area once the construction equipment used in the Algonquin renovation project left.

Halpin said she approached administrators with the proposal to use the courtyard for a vegetable garden where students could learn about sowing seeds, cultivating plants, and harvesting the fruits and vegetables for use in recipes made in class.

"I want to show kids that there are ways to make foods more nutritious by adding vegetables," she said.

Halpin got the go ahead to create the garden, and at the end of April students, parents, teachers and volunteers created seven garden boxes and planted seeds. A month later, in went the vegetable plants.

When Halpin got approval for the garden, she also received a 2007 plan to turn the courtyard into a place where students could enjoy nature and remember students and faculty members who have died.

FROM: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/