Community garden grows on MLK day

Published 2:14 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2014

By MICHAEL DASHIELL
Sequim Gazette

For most Sequim High students, Monday was a day off.

But for a group of green-thumbed youths and a small cadre of adults, it was a perfect day to get their hands dirty.

Students from Sequim High School’s Environmental Club and other community helpers picked weeds, churned soil and spread bark in a modest patch of greenery at the high school campus Monday morning and afternoon.

David Ketter, a high school science teacher, said the plot is to be a demonstration garden, where community members can see the handiwork of young volunteers using local vegetation to enhance their school surroundings.

Anna LaBeaume, president of the Environmental Club, said she was more than happy to get her hands dirty on an “off” school day.

“Rather than take a day off, it’s like a day of work in the spirit of Martin Luther King,” she said.

The Environmental Club studies ways to make students’ lives more eco-friendly. The group helped with the installation of solar panels earlier this school year. Now, LaBeaume said, the group is hoping to bring about more awareness of energy conservation by simple tasks, such as turning light switches off.

“There were a couple of kids who felt we needed to do something,” LaBeaume said of the community garden.

On Monday afternoon, two dozen youths as young as 8 joined adults in transforming the patch of grass into a well-crafted landscape, weed-free and smelling very much of fresh wood chips.
Cascade Bark of Sequim donated the wood chips.

Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.