Fortuna Garden Club donates to high school

Fortuna Union High School students will be doing some on-campus gardening this year, and the Fortuna Garden Club has donated to help this project move forward.

“We collected items to donate including garden hoses, clippers, and gloves at our July garden tour,” said Lynda Flaherty, Fortuna Garden Club President. “We’ve always had a youth gardening program,” she added, “and this is a perfect project for us to contribute to.”

Fortuna Union High School Spanish teacher Inma Thompson is also teaching the gardening class, although this year, there is no funding for the class. Thompson is seeking funding through the Donors Choose program at donorschoose.org/project/big-burl-bench-garden-gardening-class.

“We appreciate any and all donations toward our gardening class,” Thompson said, expressing her thanks to the Fortuna Garden Club for the garden accessories.

Last year, 25 students completed the gardening class. “Those students each had their own beds, and they were dedicated to growing some vegetables and harvesting along the way,” Thompson said. “We did cooking and artwork, and some of the things harvested along the way, we were able to use in the (school) cafeteria,” she added.

The students will grow not only vegetables, but flowers also.

Included in the curriculum for the class is teaching the science of gardening, plant life cycles through different seasons, landscaping pathways, building and adding a composting system, garden inspired art, cooking lessons with food that is grown, adding seating and making the garden a cozy place to be, journaling, meditation and relaxation in the garden for mental health.

“I advertise the class not just as gardening, but as a holistic approach to doing meditation and artwork,” Thompson said. Last year the class did an art project making gnomes out of ceramic flowerpots. “The students really liked that project,” Thompson said. “That’s some of what I wanted to bring,” she added, “the joy of finding ways to decorate your garden, as well as finding ways to enjoy being in that space.”