Machetanz students plant living history

WASILLA — Machetanz Elementary School students are putting together a historic school community garden. Students will grow the same types of vegetables the first Matanuska Colonists planted in their gardens. They will plant potatoes, carrots, beets, zucchini, onions, cauliflower and cabbage. This will give the students a connection to the history of their community.

Teacher Robin Ouellette also will plant roses that were originally brought to Alaska by her grandmother, who came from Minnesota as one of the original colonists.

Students also will learn how food is grown and to appreciate fresh vegetables planted by their own hands. The students will plant in the spring and harvest the vegetables in the fall. A portion of the harvest will be donated to the Food Bank of Wasilla as a community outreach project to celebrate our harvest.

The school community will then have a vegetable soup dinner. Families have signed up as “garden guardians” to tend the garden during the summer.

Future plans for the garden are to have informational signs about the colonists and nutritional information about the vegetables. Perennial plants such as rhubarb, raspberries and flowers from families own gardens are planned as well.

This garden will be built, maintained and shared by the school community to embrace the history of agriculture that influenced this area. Our students will transform from being grown in Alaska to living Alaskan Grown.

Palmer High School’s landscaping class built the garden beds with lumber donated by Spenard Builders Supply and Poppert Milling. Neeser Construction, TJ Gravel, Jacobson’s Greenhouse, Adam Boyd Farms and Local Union 1281 were generous sponsors as well.

About 450 student body members, parents and teachers used shovels, buckets and wheelbarrows May 4 during Garden Dirt Day to move piles of topsoil into the school’s new garden beds.

It was a great opportunity for the whole school to join together for a common project. Our historic community garden will benefit all students, parents, teachers and community members.