On a steamy morning in July, Catherine Hewitt is fretting over the state of the Wentworth elementary school garden – the scrawny sunflowers, the feeble carrots, the stunted indigo seedlings. “We’ve had 60% of the normal sunlight for this time of year,” explains the veteran 3rd-5th grade teacher. The sunflowers are especially important because they usually grow into a tower of yellow cheer that lines the walkway to the playground and welcomes new students in fall.
It’s a supremely beach-worthy day (one of the first) and school is out, but Hewitt isn’t off enjoying some well-deserved R&R. Instead, she is weeding, hoeing, and unloading bales of hay from her truck. She has a garden of her own, which she thinks about more as she approaches retirement, but today she is laying the groundwork for next school’s year garden programs.
Kelli Crosby, Wentworth’s principal, calls Hewitt, “one in a million… She has incredible vision, endless talent, and tremendous passion for ensuring all students have access to a thriving outdoor learning environment. What she has created here is really special. When she comes to me with an idea, my role is usually to help figure out funds or logistics or help with communication, and then just stand out of her way!”
Hewitt has been the brains and muscle behind Wentworth’s garden since 2015, but she’s quick to list the many other contributors – her co-teacher Janeen Chin, the Eagle Scouts who built picnic tables and a kiosk, the school facilities director who occasionally swings by with his tractor, and the families who water in summer (at least 50 since 2015, she estimates).
With time and community support, the garden has grown to include a small greenhouse, an orchard, a storage shed with an attached outdoor work area, student-built walkways, and multiple raised beds for flowers, herbs, and vegetables.
It’s a lot of work to maintain, but to Hewitt it’s worthwhile for the benefits of having an outdoor classroom come September. “You can teach any subject out here,” she says proudly. There’s science, of course, and math, but also foreign languages and history. Students in Hewitt’s 3rd-5th grade class learn how humans have used plants as food, medicine, fiber, and fuel and transported them across the globe. Teamwork lessons arise when students must share tools and divide the tasks of maintaining the garden – weeding, pruning, harvesting. One of Hewitt’s recent students said his favorite memory of the garden was, “Helping the second graders plant sunflowers. It felt good to help younger kids.”
This year, students will learn about using plants to create dyes and do some experiments (hence the need for indigo).
Most visitors to Wentworth immediately spot the colorful oasis Hewitt has created near the school’s entrance, but few know the full range of opportunities it affords students and their families. Hewitt estimates that about 700 Wentworth students visit the garden every school year, some on a weekly basis and others for special programs. It benefits all children, although in different ways. For a fidgety kid who can’t sit still, it’s a chance to release energy. For kids with limited exposure to nature, it’s an opportunity to get dirty and explore an unknown world. For all kids, it’s extra time outdoors during the school day, which the American Academy of Pediatrics links to better impulse control and learning outcomes. “I love being outside,” says Hewitt. “It’s my happy place. It is for a lot of kids, too.” She notices that students are better regulated and more focused after a garden session, making their indoor instruction time more productive and benefiting the entire class.
The garden fills students’ bellies as well as their minds. At last spring’s end-of-year social, they drizzled warm rhubarb sauce over their ice cream. At a fall celebration, they ate pizza made with sauce from garden-grown tomatoes, onions, and garlic, topped with sauteed garden veggies. Carrots appear in the cafeteria veggie bar and the occasional carrot cake. Seeing the garden-to-table process is a revelation for some students.
“We put little signs next to things that come from the garden,” says Peter Esposito, Wentworth’s Nutrition Program Director. “I hear kids get excited – ‘We just picked that!’” He and his staff use garden produce to supplement the cafeteria’s usual fare and for special events like Scarborough’s annual Thanksgiving community dinner. He has even used it in the high school culinary class. Garden vegetables also go into the nutritional backpacks given to students and families in need during weekends and school breaks.
On that hot July day, Hewitt clipped and prepped fresh garlic to add to the backpacks. When she delivers them to the school kitchen, she tells Esposito, “They haven’t been cured, so I’d recommend roasting them.”
She returns to the garden, grabs a hoe and starts preparing a sunflower bed for mulch. With a little work, and a lot more sun, the distinctive flowers will be ready to greet a new crop of students by September.
Wentworth School Garden Contributors
Anonymous Donor | Garden shed
Kelli Crosby (Principal, Wentworth School) | Funding facilitation and overall support
Eagle Scouts | Kiosk and picnic tables
Frith Farm | Seedlings
Dick Harvey | Photos and website
Todd Jepson (Director of Facilities, Scarborough Public Schools) | Grounds and maintenance
Deb Justham, Val Rasza, and Lisa Bennett | Garden instructors & summer maintenance
Kiwanis Club of Scarborough | Sunflower planting
Thomas Klak (Professor, University of New England) | Chestnut trees
Paul Koziell (CPM Contractors) | Granite benches
Maine School Garden Network | Funding grant
Noah Perlut (Professor, University of New England) | Bird banding workshops
David Pinkham (Operations Supervisor, Scarborough Public Works) | Tractor and excavator work
Portland Arts & Tech High School | Custom welded fences
ReTreeUs | Apple orchard and seedlings
Revision Energy | Solar panels
Scarborough Community Services | Mowing
Seeds of Change | Funding grant
Richard Sellinger (Wentworth teacher) |Caretaking and celery champion
David Sloatman (Wentworth 4th grade teacher) | Compost bins and greenhouse shelves
Snell Family Farm | Seedlings
Wentworth Students & Families | Summer watering
Wentworth Staff | Year-round maintenance
Eddie Wooden (Scarborough resident) | Birdhouse and feeders
Want to help? You can donate to the garden or backpack programs by contacting Ms. Hewitt at chewitt@scarboroughschools.org. She also welcomes volunteers with a specific area of expertise related to the garden.
