There’s something special growing at St. Joseph-Ogden High School.
Of course, the community is excited to get back in the greenhouse at the end of this week as they shop a variety of flowering plants and vegetables ready for the summer sun. But the true growth is a program that has fostered a love for agriculture and community that will continue to blossom for years to come.
Under the direction of Ag Teacher Darcy Nekolny, a student desire to be engaged in the SJ-O greenhouse is leading to new ideas and discoveries.
As greenhouse manager, SJ-O Junior Anna Parkinson is fostering a love initiated by gardening with her mom.
“I started with my first ag class freshman year with intro to AG, and I’ve always done planting and stuff like that with my mom for Mother’s Day,” Parkinson said. “It’s a tradition that we always do.”
Although Parkinson was only remotely interested in plants at that time, being in the greenhouse her sophomore year showed her that taking care of plants was something she is very passionate about.
Disappointment came in the spring of 2020 when the annual plant sale was canceled due to COVID-19 mitigations. That didn’t keep Parkinson for planning for the upcoming year, though. She and Nekolny talked what plants and species to offer in 2021 and took in different considerations with water and climate.
Nekolny said that that passion has bubbled over into the entire class.
“Each of them have their own plant portfolio that they’re in charge of,” she said. “The best thing was watching the first couple days, they were all meticulously caring for all their individual plants. And it was great to watch that because if you have classes that come in and they don’t make it their own, they don’t care, you don’t have good quality stuff. But this class has really taken ownership of the greenhouse, which has been phenomenal to watch.”
Patrons will get to bring home the fruits of that labor beginning Thursday, April 29. The SJ-O plant sale will run until Saturday or when supplies run out.
“I think our plants are special because we all grow them,” Parkinson said. “They come to us as just little seedling plants. The plants you see now are all us, the way that they’ve grown, and how great they are, it’s just all of us students and all the work that we put in.”
Senior Rachel Wilson sees something, though.
A fan of art, Wilson has grown to love hostas, a plant she used to hate, because markings on the leaf remind her of Monet’s paintings.
Her mom has bought her a bunch of hostas, and now she has a space for them in her garden.
“I just really think they’re beautiful,” Wilson said.
Wilson will go on to study agriculture at the University of Illinois next year to study crop and farming sustainability.
“I’ve loved just learning everything about agriculture,” Wilson said. “I don’t think I realized before how important it is and how I can make a difference through agriculture. My whole life I’ve really want to make a difference in the world, and I’ve now found how I can do that.”
Nekolny said that these types of opportunities for students are important not only because they can learn how to produce their own food, but also because as a society, humans will have to re-imagine agriculture.
When grocery shelves were emptied during the first months of the pandemic, home gardening supplies and greenhouses also went into higher demand.
“We saw a year ago what happens when our society does not pick up the way it’s supposed to,” Nekolny said.
“I think that giving them the opportunity to raise plants is giving them those life skills that they’re going to need. It gives them a way to see, I can grow tomato that I can slice tomato or make sauces, however they want to use it.”
Usually, SJ-O students also have the opportunity to use hydroponic systems to grow vegetables. Although those units were not available this year, educating students to understand vertical gardening is one way to tackle the climate and food production crisis that will continue to take hold as the population grows.
“What does the future of the world look like as we continue to grow to 9 billion people?” Nekolny asked.
“Hydroponics is going to have to be part of that solution and vertical farming is going to have to be part of that solution. Are we going to vertical farm every field that you have in Central Illinois No. But, there’s going to have to be a mind shift change to include some of these greener type of green products; whether we’re looking at greenhouse production and hothouse food throughout the winter, or we’re looking at hydroponics throughout the year.”
From looking at global issues to growing plants that will thrive locally, the SJ-O students want to provide solutions.
Junior Jessica Palmer said that the team reached out to the community early on to see what they would like to see in the greenhouse. But they also produced a new variety of a summer favorite, the fire begonia.
“Learning a lot, and being able to better the community and the Ag program at the high school is what we’re trying to do,” Palmer said.
