Thinking outside the classroom: Hot Springs Elementary Garden Club holds outdoors classes

HOT SPRINGS - For many students, attending class outside is always a welcome treat on the rare occasions it happens.

But for Hot Springs Elementary School students, conducting class outside is a common occurrence, thanks to the Hot Springs Elementary Garden Club. The Garden Club is an auxiliary program coordinated by Hot Springs resident Natalie Hesed.

"They get to plant seeds, they get to prep the soil, they get to water the plants and harvest them, and then we eat them in class, or we'll send them home to families," Hesed said. "The crops are always going for free to school staff and families, predominantly during the school year."

The garden club operates through Bountiful Cities, an Asheville-based nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching sustainable agriculture skills and sharing resources to promote social justice, economic viability, and community resilience, according to its website. Hesed said she utilizes the lesson programs in Bountiful Cities to link them to science, math, and English/Language Arts curriculum, and also plans to meet with Misty Varnell, N.C. Cooperative Extension - Madison County Center's 4H youth development agent, to incorporate additional lesson plans.

The garden coordinator said her students testify to her about how much they love the garden.

"Every time I go to Ingles or Dollar General, I have kids running up and hugging me and saying, 'Hi Ms. Natalie! Mom, this is my garden teacher,'" Hesed said. "They seem to love it and thrive in the outdoor space. I have a big passion about getting kids out of the classroom to understand it in ways that some students are going to absorb that information better."

According to Hesed, the garden also serves the greater Hot Springs community.

"We provide fresh produce in a rural area, where it can be a bit more difficult to get fresh produce," Hesed said. "The community seems to be very enthusiastic."

In the summer, the garden crops are given to the residents of the Madison County Group Home, Hot Springs' lone residence model of medical care for those with complex health needs, as well as to the Madison County Senior Center meal site in Hot Springs and to Beacon of Hope Food Services, a long-running food pantry currently located in Marshall.

Also during the summer, community members gather for weekly maintenance of the garden during Community Harvest Days.

"We get the best turnout for the community harvest days," Hesed said. "People who otherwise may not cross paths with each other get to meet here, and the environment provides an easy conversation starter ... plants and food! Everyone can relate to plants and food, no matter their background. I've heard quite a few recipes, things one must or mustn't do in order for a crop to succeed, opinions about the flavor of purple cauliflower, and the exchange of so much knowledge.

"We also have Gather and Garden days which are more focused on coming together and building social relationships, as well as doing work in the garden."

Lisa Marcy is a first grade teacher at Hot Springs Elementary.

"The community gardening program at HSES is exceptional," Massey said. "All of the children have the incredible opportunity to be  involved in growing, harvesting and tasting the food that is grown right here on campus. It is a wonderful way to make the process real and tangible to the students and give them real-life experiences. Natalie Hesed is a treasure to the school, students and staff."

Hesed, a Colorado native, moved to Madison County in 2011. She credits her parents with instilling in her a love of nature and the outdoors.

"My mom and dad were into gardening in the hobby sense, and we had a small little garden growing up in rural Colorado," Hesed said. "I definitely credit them with my love for nature and getting me started on loving plants. I really started pretty seriously pursuing homestead-level gardening and understanding variety selection and timing of when to plant about 12 years ago."

Program history

The garden club was founded in 2016, when the school and a group of parents received a Whole Foods Kids grant to build some raised beds near the school.

In 2018, a private donor funded the expansion of the garden and the initiation of gardening classes at HSES. Bountiful Cities agreed to be the fiscal agent for the funds and helped lift this program off the ground. Matt Wallace was the first garden instructor, establishing the new garden space and developing the curriculum, and beginning the program's relationship with the school administration. When COVID hit in 2020, Wallace maintained the garden, continuing to grow fresh produce and package it for delivery on the school buses as they delivered lunches to students throughout the county.

Hesed assumed the garden director position in December 2021.

Madison Middle School partners with Partnership for Applachian Girls Education, a local nonprofit afterschool program aimed at sixth through 10th grade girls from underserved backgrounds. But the Hot Springs Elementary Garden Club is the only program offered as part of Madison County Schools' curriculum during school hours, according to the garden coordinator.

"We are the only program that I'm aware of in Madison County that is able to operate during the school day doing anything close to what we do," Hesed said. "It's such a unique thing, and I would love to see this opportunity expand to get kids out there."

In Madison County Schools, teachers are turning more to project-based learning environments as it carries the potential to allow students hands-on opportunities in more practical settings.

Keisha Rathbone is a title assistant for Hot Springs Elementary's third through fifth graders.

"My favorite thing about the Garden Program at HSES is the opportunity that this gives children who may not have access to a garden and seeing how vegetables and flowers are grown," Rathbone said. "Natalie creates thoughtful, interesting lessons for the children using what is grown in the garden to spark interest in the students which will hopefully plant a seed for them to eventually grow their own vegetables and flowers in the future."

Hot Springs Elementary Principal Jennifer Mills said the garden club offers the opportunity to positively impact every student in the K-5 school.

"Each of our students is able to access this beautiful space," Mills said. "Students are opening their minds to how they can apply their learning outside of the classroom by having the real-life experience of growing healthy food."

Program barriers

One of the biggest issues facing PAGE programming was the students' lack of consistent access to transportation.

Debbie Chandler currently serves as PAGE's assistant to the program director.

"This year, we weren't able to get a (full-time) bus driver," Chandler said. "We're hoping by the spring that things will be better and that we'll have more girls. We started off our first week with about 12 girls (at the garden lab). Because we couldn't get transportation, we lost girls because we don't have a way of getting them home."

At the Hot Springs Garden Club, securing more consistent funding for the garden club is critical to ensuring the programming continues.

"Would I love to have this program expand to other schools and expand in staff numbers? Absolutely," Hesed said. "But to do that, there needs to be a little bit more program security and a need to have funding for expanding the vision, to either other schools or outside of school hours."

According to Hesed, the MCS administration has expressed support for bringing an outdoor classroom to Hot Springs. Currently, the garden club operates roughly 70% through grants and 30% through fundraising and donations, including from Hot Springs businesses such as Mountain Home Properties, Big Pillow Brewing, Hot Springs Lions Club, and a number of individual donors. The Farm Connection often chips in and donates plants to the cause, according to the garden coordinator.

As for grants, the club receives help from Ross Young, who became practiced in the art of grantwriting in his roles as county extension director and as a board member with the Appalachian Barn Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at restoring and renovating Madison County barns.

In the summer of 2022, the garden club began a partnership with Glory Ridge, a Christian retreat center located in the Walnut Community.

Also this summer, a pastor and youth group organizer from Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro assisted Hesed by helping to build a shed for the club.

Hesed hopes to keep growing the program to provide more access and opportunities to both students and community members in Madison.

While these partnerships are encouraging, Hesed emphasized the crucial importance of maintaining this momentum.

"What I would love to see is more sustainable funding so that it is known that the program will continue from year to year," Hesed said. "I'd also love to see expanded reach. I'd love to bring some type of program like this, that's linked to the curriculum standards, that gets kids outdoors - whether it be supporting teachers in having access to lesson material and knowing how to use it outside, or having a program where the kids are taken outside by myself or another person who has outdoor experience and engages them outdoors on school grounds."

Above all, Hesed said she is grateful for the support she has received in helping to revive the garden club, as it lay dormant following the previous coordinator's departure in 2020.

"I'm so appreciative to all of the folks who helped pave the way for this program to become what it is today, and I'm excited to nurture it as it continues to grow," Hesed said.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Thinking outside: Hot Springs Elem. Garden Club holds outdoors classes