The Heritage Garden

This article about the horticulture class was written by Randall Fair, one of our students.

Fruits and vegetables are a key part to everybody's health.  Here at Heritage School, girls in second period and guys in sixth period for Cindy's horticulture class have been working toward the perfection of our provided garden.  At the current time, some of the things we're growing are strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, chili peppers, edible flowers, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and more.

Here at Heritage we are all about thinking green.  One of the things we do to support this is we have a compost pile where we put all of our pulled weeds and other dead plants to recycle it into the earth for fresh nutritious soil the next season.  Also, we use the manure from the equestrian program and turn it into our soil so as to decompose and freshen our soil for even more nutrients.

I have found out from my horticulture class that just about wherever you are you can grow your own garden. Whether it's in your yard, your window, or even your roof.  One of the latest trends is to grow a garden on your roof. Not only is it green, but it lowers the temperature in your house.  It also plays another role of bringing a part of nature into the concrete jungle we live in today.

Everybody loves the fresh taste of organic fruits. Do you know the meaning behind organic? The fruit you purchase from produce stores are prematurely picked and when they're about to reach their destination they pump the crates of unripened fruit full of ethylene oxide.  This gas, which is harmful to humans, forces the fruit to ripen. The reason they have to do this is that if the fruit was picked when it ripened, by the time it would reach the store shelves it would have about one day of shelf life.  If we were able to bring the whole bush to the shelf and have people pick from there, then it would work, but we can't. It costs way too much money.  It's because of this reason organic fruit is expensive, but also the reason why it has its natural robust flavor that's heavily desired.  Next time you pass by a small farm with a sign saying "fresh organic fruit," don't take it for granted and use this opportunity to indulge yourself in the amazing flavor nature has to offer you at a low price.

Thank you Cindy, Heritage, and those who keep our garden going for the knowledge and opportunity to be involved in such a thing.