Free Horizon Montessori

Free Horizon Montessori school will be "growing" an adopt-a-plot program this fall where each classroom will take lead on a establishing and maintaining a garden bed under the guidance of our lead teachers and a cadre of dedicated parent and faculty volunteers. This gardening program will consist of approximately 14 raised beds distributed around the school's 4.8 acre property. Each garden bed will have at least one dedicated adult sponsor who takes the lead on its cultivation and works with our students (preschool through 8th grade) to provide the plot with the TLC it needs to thrive. Free Horizon already has a kids' enrichment cooking program that runs after school several months out of the year, and ideally, the produce grown in the gardens can be incorporated into the menus of the cooking club. The school has also had an ornamental peace garden for several years, which is cared for by the school's preschool and kindergarten students and staff; it has been used primarily as a beautiful natural environment for the kids and an outdoor classroom for discussions on plant life, pollinators, seasonal changes, etc. Free Horizon is excited about the future of an expanded gardening program where we can grow edible gardens while offering additional hands-on opportunities for our students to learn about organic food systems, plant life cycles, healthy eating, and the gratification of having something delicious and tangible to show for getting your hands dirty. As students learn gardening basics in the raised beds and the skill and experience increases, Free Horizon Montessori plans to further expand our gardening program to include larger, in-ground vegetable garden plots, which will be overseen and worked primarily by its upper elementary and middle school programs.