Growing New Roots at the Linford School Garden

two smiling women, both wearing jeans and short-sleeved shirts, stand under a red wooden frame with raised beds on either side containing green plants — CNP educator Ruth Lake (left) and Linford Librarian Stefanie Hunt stand at the entrance to the revitalized garden at Linford Elementary School. Photo by Kali McCrackin Goodenough.

For the last few years, the garden at Linford Elementary School in Laramie has been dormant. With Laramie’s short growing season that spans the months when school is out of session, it’s been a challenge to keep the garden going.

All of that changed this year when Linford librarian Stefanie Hunt connected with Cent$ible Nutrition Program (CNP) educator Ruth Lake.

“I’ve helped with the garden in the past, and it was kind of in shambles the past couple years,” said Hunt. “So, we wanted to partner with Ruth and Albany County 4-H. They came to me with ideas about adding more garden troughs and getting kids together to help us.”

“We wanted to get the Linford garden going again,” said Lake. “The counselor at Linford is trying to get a food pantry started in the school, and so we wanted to help provide produce for that, that the kids grew themselves.”

Lake and Amanda Dougherty, Albany County 4-H educator, met with Linford’s PTO (parent-teacher organization) to get approval for the project. Once they had approval, they hosted several seed-starting activities before school ended for the summer to get youth started on the project. Seed starting was open to students at Linford and Albany County 4-H members. Many of the youth who participated attend Linford and continued to help with transplanting and garden upkeep during the growing season.

“They wanted to be part of their own garden,” said Lake. Many of the kids came back week after week to see how their seed progressed to a seedling and then to a plant.

leafy green plants with red wire frames inside an enclosed growing space with sun coming in through the windows. On a shelf are two signs, one that says "Linford Garden" and the other "Our hearts are together even while we're apart." In front of the signs is a red watering can. — The garden at Linford Elementary School includes two indoor growing spaces as well as outdoor raised beds. Photo by Kali McCrackin Goodenough.

As part of rehabilitating the garden, new soil, donated by Big Hunks Excavation Company, was added to the beds. Fresh wood chips, donated from Lodge Pole Products, were laid down throughout the garden area to keep the weeds down. This community support was essential to restarting the garden.

In addition to Lake and Dougherty, Brenna Litynski, the agriculture and natural resources educator at Albany County Extension, joined in to share her expertise.

“I think it’s helpful to have multiple perspectives and skill sets on a project like this,” said Litynski. “There were times where our leaves were getting eaten on one of the plants and Ruth sent me a picture and was like, ‘What’s happening here’ and, as an agriculture and natural resources educator, I could try and find the reason for that and come up with some kind of solution.”

Lake, Dougherty, and Litynski are all newer members of the Albany County extension office. The Linford garden project helped bring them together on an effort that’s already making a difference in the community.

“As someone who’s super new to the job, this project let me network with the community and learn about the things that are going on in Laramie,” said Litynski.

With the garden back in shape, Hunt is hoping it will be used more by students and teachers alike. “I think classrooms will want to come out here and maybe do some science notebooks to make observations,” said Hunt.

With school back in session, students have formed a garden club and are helping to harvest once a week, with the produce going to the new food pantry at Linford.

enclosed growing space with small solar panel and open door revealing leafy green plants inside. In front of the structure is a small plaque and a metal container with plants in it; to the right of the structure is a tree — Revived growing spaces at the Linford Elementary School garden. Photo by Kali McCrackin Goodenough.

“I have been there a couple of times as school is getting out and the garden club kids will come in the garden and help me,” said Lake. “I think they feel ownership and pride in the garden.”

As the harvest comes ready, everyone is taking a chance to reflect.

“I think a big success for me was just getting the Linford garden going again,” said Lake. “I think we may not have the most successful yield from the garden, but we learned a lot from this first year and will go forward from there. That’s the part that has me excited. This is not just a one-year thing. This is going be an ongoing project.”

“I hope that our excitement and enthusiasm can be realized and other people can grab on to that and want to be a part of this,” Dougherty adds.

If the students working in the garden before and after school are any indicator, the new roots at Linford’s garden have been a success.

“We got a lot more accomplished this summer than I think we ever have, and so now we’ve kind of got a clean slate to keep building and producing,” said Hunt.

To learn more about gardening opportunities for youth in Laramie, contact Ruth Lake at rlake4@uwyo.edu or Amanda Dougherty at afluegel@uwyo.edu.