GILL — With $27,540 to spend before June 30, Gill Elementary School Principal Walter Huston says expansion of the Gill Elementary garden and the development of a garden at Sheffield Elementary is the name of the game. 

Last fall, Huston put in an application for a Massachusetts Farming Reinforces Education and Student Health (FRESH) grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and its partner, the Massachusetts Farm to Schools. They were awarded along with 25 other schools across the state for the schools to expand their grow, or purchase local food while educating students on local food systems.

Gill-Montague was awarded this grant that Huston said will go toward purchasing new tools for the existing food gardens at Gill Elementary, and supplies to bring back a garden program at Sheffield Elementary. 

“It's really to revitalize it and build it back up,” Huston said about the Sheffield gardens. “So they're looking at adding some more raised beds, they're looking at doing some direct ground planting, getting a shed, buying tools, really giving them a lot of equipment stuff.” 

The GES gardens are tended to by the GES Garden Club, which includes students, parents and local farmers who volunteer to take care of the garden, and GES was supported last year by the Greenfield Garden Club with a grant to help create signs for the garden on the school campus. This latest grant also helps the garden club leaders — Faith Rand, a GES instructional assistant, and Sorrel Hatch, manager of Upinngil Farm — get a stipend for their work in helping manage the garden with the students. 

Huston said originally, there were ideas to purchase a greenhouse that would sit at Gill Elementary, but with the amount of money from the grant, and the timing in which they need to spend the money, he said there were a change of plans. Instead, both Gill and Sheffield have been doing a “Harvest of the Month” which includes choosing a crop grown in Massachusetts, and introducing it to students in their meals. 

Since starting this meal program in January, Huston says the grant money helps the schools get foods that the students can try, whether they try it on its own, or in a meal like an apple butternut squash crisp he said the Gill students enjoyed. 

“We tasted carrots that came straight from the garden versus ones that you buy in the store. We have tried organic popcorn and real popcorn, and understanding that there's certain corn that's raised just for popcorn," Huston said. “So that's kind of some of the things that we're doing with the grant.” 

With this grant allowing students to try new and local produce while learning about where their food comes from, Huston said this initiative with the Garden Club and the “Harvest of the Month,” students and parents alike are enjoying what the school is providing their students. 

“We've heard there are a number of parents that have been who have been encouraging, and they're been very supportive of wanting more fruits and vegetables and more opportunities for their children,” he said. “It's been interesting, because they all get to tally and vote on what they like, and what they don't like, and really respecting the fact that if you don't like it, that's okay. Not everyone likes everything, but they've been willing to try things, and they get very excited about being able to try things.” 

With the success of the FRESH grant at Gill and Sheffield Elementary, Huston said there is another grant deadline in June that he’ll be applying for in hopes to start a garden at Hillcrest for their students. 

“I think letting them know that there's different ways to prepare food, there's different ways the food tastes different, and it's OK,” Huston said about the value of providing fresh produce, “And just opening that world up for them, that life is more than just the processed food that we've become very used to.”

 Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.