JAMES MATSON
@goanacortes

School is out for summer, but the Anacortes Middle School gardens are still thriving under the careful attention of volunteers.

The local non-profit, Transition Fidalgo, is organizing volunteers to care for the gardens while students enjoy their
summer break. Every Tuesday, from 10 a.m. until noon, volunteers come to AMS to mow, weed, compost, care for the
garden and harvest the available produce for their free food stands that are placed around Anacortes.

“These wonderful human beings come in and volunteer their
time to help our garden grow and teach them skills they can
use forever,” Molly Robbins said. Robbins currently teaches
the classes “Garden to Kitchen” and “The Art of Living,” both
of which teach students to grow and cook their own foods.

Former AMS teachers, Anne Chase-Stapleton and Kecia Fox
started the garden project over fifteen years ago with help
from students and parents. In the years since, they’ve
improved the infrastructure to include a patio, bird boxes, tool
shed, mosaic birdbath and a second garden have been added.
“It’s a constantly evolving, beautiful, and organic project,”
Chase-Stapleton said. Chase-Stapleton taught the class for
over a decade before retiring and passing on the reins to new
teachers.

“It’s a classroom setting and the students learn a lot. Some of
those students who have challenges controlling their energy
find this as an outlet. They really enjoy the physical work,”
Robbins said.

Middleschoolers are notorious for their rambunctious energy,
but caring for the garden allows them to channel that energy
into a healthy cause.

“Not all kids have a math, science or English track for where
they envision their future, but every kid needs to know how to
cook nutritious food and think about ways to partner with the
land,” AMS principal Kia duNann said.

Students will routinely stuff their hoodie packets full of kale
and munch on the healthy snack as they work in the garden.

​

Learning to grow food and eat healthier options is only part of
the class. Students also receive hands-on training from
Transition Fidalgo volunteers. Some of those volunteers will
teach students (with their teacher’s supervision) how to safely
use power tools or how to mulch the soil.

AMS has classes of 30 for each section, and classes rotate at
the end of the semester. They grow a variety of plants
including lettuce, beets, kale, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers,
squash and more.

The classroom has six fully stocked cooking sections for
students to take those fresh produce and turn them into
delicious meals.

“I’ve always enjoyed cooking and it’s nice to share those
skills with students too. They walk away from the class with
an understanding of the yummy food they can make in the
gardens and grow at home,” Robbins said.

Some students take those skills and use them outside of class.
One of Robbins’ students worked at the Arts Festival at a food
booth. She had earned her food workers card during the
school year in class.

“It’s fulfilling to hear a student say I’m using these skills that I
learned directly from you,” Robbins said.

The garden thrives during the school year under the watchful
eyes of Robbins and her students. However, during the
summer the garden’s success is solely reliant on volunteer
efforts. In past years, it wasn’t always easy to find people to
keep the gardens ready for the student’s return.

“It was tough keeping the garden going,” Chase-Stapleton
said. Previously, she’d been in charge of the garden during the
summer as one of the garden’s founders.

“I tried to get other teachers to come in and water or help. It
wasn’t good,” Chase-Stapleton said with a laugh. It was a
difficult task finding enough summer help to replace the work
of over 90 students every day during the school year. After all,
many teachers use their summers for travel or child care.

In recent years, Transition Fidalgo has stepped up and
organized that work. Under the eye of the project leads, Warren
Carr and Laurie Sherman, they’ve made sure there’s enough
weekly volunteers to keep the garden alive and thriving.
Sherman hopes more people are interested in becoming
involved and volunteer with time with Transition Fidalgo.

​

“There’s room for people to help in all different ways. That’s
the whole point of Transition Fidalgo. It’s about building
community and creating projects that help us tread more
lightly on the plant,” Sherman said. They meet every Tuesday
morning to put a couple hours of gardening in a “many hands
make light work” effort.

Recently, they helped raise funds to build a greenhouse that
allowed the program more flexibility for growing new types
of plants. Some of Transition’s Fidalgo’s business partners in
the project include: ACE Hardware, Sebos Hardware, Sunland

Topsoil, Christianson’s Nursery. Frontier Building Supplies,
Sign Dog, Skagit Salvage, Anacortes Rotary Club, and
Anacortes Schools Foundation. The Anacorte Co-op and other
businesses have also donated or helped raise funds on behalf
of the project over the years.

As the garden nears the end of its second decade of existence
the school garden is as well loved and cared for as ever from
its community.

Whether it’s the sound of students hammering away at
creating new plant beds or the sight of Transition volunteers
painstakingly weeding during the summer months. The AMS
garden project is alive and well.

“Even if they don’t become gardeners or farmers, it’s
important to know that healthy tastes good,” Carr said.
“They learn to be stewards of the soil and learn the
importance of a healthy environment.”

 

James Matson can be reached at jmatson@goanacortes.com