The great pumpkin!

When I first moved to the Pioneer Valley, I was living in Amherst which is across the Connecticut River from Northampton. I had a commute of about twenty minutes and would take back roads to avoid the traffic on the main through fare connecting Amherst to Northampton. One late summer morning, I was looking out over the Holyoke Range to one side of me and driving through an arch of corn fields and thought to myself it is awesome to see, smell, and feel the nature surroundings all around me and that we were quite fortunate to have this beauty so close at our finger tips.

Students at LGA interact with nature all during the year. It is just a part of the milieu of what makes this Jewish day school so unique. Two summers ago, a master gardener approached me about having a small garden in the back yard of the school. I jumped on the idea and imagined Kindergarten students frolicking in the garden as they learned about all the different vegetables, fruits and flowers that were planted. I envisioned 5th and 6th graders studying about plant life and having the garden as a real-time laboratory where they would experiment in different ways. I dreamt of art classes designing placards for the garden and spending time just thinking about art amongst the flowers. I imagined 2nd and 3rd graders classifying species of insects and bugs that they witnessed in the garden and finally I could see a 4th grade Judaics class harvesting and picking all the vegetables and making a big pot of soup to walk over to our next door neighbors at the Northampton Survival Center. Well much to my joy and chagrin, some of this happened and some just became a dream!

This year, Amy, our new Kindergarten teacher, approached me about having Margaret, the master gardener come back and help her create a pumpkin patch for her students. This spring, Amy put a call out to our community to help get the garden done. On a beautiful Sunday morning, a whole lot of families arrived ready to dig, till, plow, and plant all with the goal of having a beautiful pumpkin patch for our students. Over the summer, I would walk into school and have the privilege of watching the pumpkins grow and grow.

Last week, right before Rosh Hashanah, our Gan students got the lucky privilege of picking the pumpkins. Pumpkins and gourds of all different shapes and sizes are now sitting in the classroom. Science lessons abound and the eventual cooking and eating the seeds is holding everyones excitement.

Less you think the garden will lay dormant, Morah Caitlin, our Kindergarten teaching fellow and an avid farmer, took our students out and planted a whole bunch of veggies that can grow in the autumn. Who knows we could have quite a nice bounty for Thanksgiving!

Gmar Chatima Tovah! May you be inscribed for a good year!