When new teacher Julie Fabiano was still a student at Holy Trinity Catholic High School, she often thought it was a shame the beautiful brick-and-glass greenhouse on the south side of the school building was never used for the purpose for which it was built.
Instead, it was used for storage, filled with old chairs and tables.
“I just thought it was such a great resource,” Fabiano said.
After all, she said, the Holland Marsh is just a stone’s throw away from the Bradford West Gwillimbury school. A greenhouse could be a great tool to teach new skills, illustrate the curriculum, and possibly even provide a Specialist High Skills Major program in agriculture.
It was not until she returned to Holy Trinity as a teacher that she became involved in a project that has seen the 20-year-old greenhouse come back to life.
Inspired by the Social Justice Group at the school, and in particular by student Evan Mott, and working with fellow teacher Rita Benvenuto, an application was made for grant funding to help restore and fill the greenhouse.
Small EcoLeague grants, coupled with support from local growers Bradford Greenhouses, L & D Ferragina, and Ferragine Greenhouses, helped the project get started.
“It started with a small group of teachers,” said Fabiano. “There’s been lots of different classes involved.”
The religion class and Green Team helped clear out the piles of tables, chairs, abandoned equipment, even old science projects that filled the greenhouse, and the Social Justice Group worked hard, cleaning, planting, and then watering on a regular basis.
Evan Mott was the project’s champion, writing a 35-page report that detailed some of the benefits of a greenhouse as a school resource – how students could learn hands-on to grow food, how the hospitality classes could use the fresh produce, and even the construction class could get involved, building raised boxes and planters.
“Just kind of make it a school effort, to use it in whatever way we can,” he said.
The report was part of the school’s submission for a Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) Foundation grant. And out of 10,000 to 11,000 submissions from across Canada, “we ended up winning first,” a $3,000 prize, Mott said.
The grant will be used to repair the greenhouse, and extend the project to the grounds immediately around it.
“Eventually with the grant money, we’re going to fence on either side,” said Mott, creating new outdoor gardens, increasing the amount that can be grown, and providing a transition from greenhouse to grounds.
The religion class at the school will also get support for a planned Biblical Garden at the front of the school – stocked with some of the more than 125 plants, trees and herbs mentioned in the Bible.
At the moment, the greenhouse is filled with several kinds of pepper plants and tomatoes, kale and “all kinds of herbs – cilantro, basil, chives, dill” – already being used by the Hospitality students. Plans for next year include adding garlic and more herbs, and possibly hanging flower baskets in time for Mother’s Day, to raise funds for the Social Justice Group’s projects, both in the community and globally.
There have been a few issues in bringing back the structure after years of abandonment, and Frank Jonkman Jr. dropped by this week to check over the greenhouse and offer advice.
“I built it,” said Jonkman, back in the days when he was working for his father at Jonkman Greenhouse Systems. “You wouldn’t believe the number of schools we built greenhouses on, that aren’t used.”
He noted that the greenhouse at Holy Trinity was probably used for only six months or so before it was closed. The equipment, including automated vents and awning system, “hasn’t been used enough to be worn out,” Jonkman said, spotting some bent rods and loose screws in need of attention.
“It’s an easy fix,” he said, although hooking up the hot water heating system, apparently disconnected years ago, would be an issue for the school’s facilities management.
Jonkman also recommended installing a programmable watering system. In the meantime, Mott, his teachers and Social Justice volunteers plan to come by the greenhouse during the summer months to keep the growing plants watered and tended, or “adopt” the plants and take them home.
Looking at the greenhouse filled with greenery, including a flowering sunflower, Fabiano said, “It’s crazy to think of where this started at the beginning of this year.”
It took “months and months of cleaning it up,” to get the greenhouse set up for use, she said - but “Evan was very passionate about it,” and the students saw the project through.
Benvenuto said she had been inspired by a similar project at Bradford District High School, where educational assistant Sherry Morrow has used plants, a greenhouse and an outdoor community garden to teach students life lessons, supply the hospitality program, and share the produce.
A greenhouse, they noted, can be a growing resource.