LAKE STEVENS — Jessie Farrens’ family grows strawberries, tomatoes and carrots at their home.
After a school celebration for a new greenhouse, his mother, Shelby Farrens, said her son might now want to try growing potatoes, too.
Jessie, 5, and other preschool students at the Lake Stev
ens Early Learning Center held a parade Tuesday afternoon along the fenced perimeter of their school garden to celebrate the greenhouse and a $1,000 award from the Washington State Potato Commission. They waved streamers and sang a song. Some students planted seed potatoes in several large garbage bins.
The school on Fourth Street SE is one of 10 preschool and elementary schools in the state selected to win a greenhouse, seed potatoes and the $1,000 cash grant this year, said Karen Bonaudi, assistant executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission. Cougar Creek Elementary School in Arlington was among this year’s winners. GreenhouseMegastore.com donated 50 greenhouses for the contest.
“We started doing this in 2004 and it’s really taken off,” Bonaudi said. “We started giving out five greenhouses a year and now we’re up to 10 a year.” The school entered the commission’s “Kids Are Growing” competition last year to win a greenhouse to add to their school garden, said Matt Wyant, building coordinator for the Lake Stevens Early Learning Center.
Families at the center got started on a school garden in late January, when they built wooden planter boxes. Every other Saturday, families of preschoolers enrolled at the school meet in the garden to tend and share their crop. They also learn how to grow their own food from visiting master gardeners of the Washington State University Snohomish County Extension.
Lettuce, radishes, onions, peas, carrots and other plants grow in the school garden, Wyant said. The 6-by-8-foot greenhouse should help families start growing pepper plants and ensure some crops can be planted earlier in the year.
“It enhances the work that we’re doing with the Snohomish County WSU Extension,” he said. “This helps support our families. It gives them training on nutritious foods, recipes on cooking with fresh produce and access to fresh produce.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
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