Watch Our Garden Grow…Literally!

Mandy Randolph’s Farm to Classroom kids dig digging!

By Madie Murray, Chair
Orcas Island Farm to Cafeteria Program

If you’re wondering about all the digging going on around the garden at the public school, it is to make the garden bigger—in fact, three times bigger!

Our ambitious garden keeper, Chelsea Cates, has drawn up a plan and pulled together volunteers and students to help remove the grass, till, plant posts and run fencing to enclose approximately 7500 sq.ft. around the current 2600 sq.ft. garden and eventually extending it up to the big oak and out to the row of trees near the street.

The new garden, when completed in approximately two years and according to Chelsea’s plans, will include not only a hugely expanded number of beds, but also a drying shed, water catchment system, weather station, an expanded area to grow more food—especially for the school cafeteria—a food prep and teaching area, themed garden boxes and a large area for edible flowers.

When the Farm to Cafeteria Program hired Chelsea two years ago, little did we know what an incredible difference she would make in not only the garden, but in Mandy Randolph’s Farm to Classroom where she assists in bringing the garden to the kids and the kids to the garden every week of the school year. In the summer, she sees to it that the garden is well taken care of when it’s at its peak and “puts it to bed,” with the help of the students, in the winter.

Lessons galore are in our garden, and with the expansion they will multiply. Chelsea has the same vision as our Program and the energy and enthusiasm to make it happen. So watch us grow; and if you want to help or have something to contribute to our new garden, just let us know.