It Takes a Village: New Garden Greets Students at Middle School Entrance

When Ashland Middle School kids, parents and teachers return for the new school year, they will find a rock garden at the school entrance on Rt. 135. The garden, built this summer, was a collaborative effort by Girl Scouts Elizabeth Barrett and Charlotte Perry; Ashland Garden Club (AGC) member Debra Griffin; and the town’s Department of Public Works (DPW).
The rock garden consists of one large and one small raised bed with stone borders and low maintenance plants on either side of the school sign.
Griffin, who is an artist, applied her creativity to the project and her desire to mentor young people in gardening in Ashland’s public spaces. She worked with Barrett, Perry and the DPW to design and install the beds. Griffin is especially interested in establishing new gardens and revitalizing gardens that have been neglected.
“It’s wonderful how cooperative everyone’s been,” Griffin said of the Middle School garden installation.
Erik Wallace and Brandon Barker from the DPW were able to supply Griffin with New England field stone and loam for the plants.
With this project, Barrett and Perry fulfilled their requirement for the Silver Badge, the highest award a girl scout can earn as a Cadette and the second highest award for a girl scout.
To receive the award, scouts must create a sustainable project that will benefit the community and educate the public. To fulfill the requirement for educating the public, Barrett and Perry taught kids at the Ashland Farmers Market how gardening is beneficial to personal and environmental well being.
The girls wrote about their project: “Our principal reached out to us about creating gardens and we agreed because we wanted to have the area reflect the pride we felt in our school community. The plantings are at the entrance to the school, which is not just seen by students and visitors, but everybody who drives on the busy main road. Also, we were excited to do something to help our local ecosystem and encourage biodiversity on a small scale and inspire our community to garden.
“We learned a great deal about what it takes to put ideas into action and all the hard work it takes to work out the details in order to reach your goals. One of the best parts of the project was practicing how to teach kids and realizing how enthusiastic people of all ages are about nature. Another great part of the project was learning how generous people in our town can be and how passionate they are about helping to implement change.”
The kids have been watering the garden this summer and will continue to maintain it, texting Griffin with questions along the way. Griffin hopes they pass the responsibility on to other scouts as time goes by.
“It’s about the excitement and ownership of it,” Griffin said.
As a garden club member, Griffin has revitalized several other public gardens around town, including the island at Pond and Eliot streets.
AGC maintains 14 sites around town, according to their website.
“Garden club members are amazing, they take care of so many sites throughout Ashland” Griffin said. “I want to help out what they are already doing.”