USA: ALABAMA - Gulf Shores High School's Small Town, Big Garden Sets Fundraiser

John Mullen

Feb 06, 2023

"Farm to Table" event set for March 15 at the school

Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – Gulf Shores High School’s Sustainability and Hospitality and Tourism academies are putting together a fundraiser for the school’s “Small Town, Big Garden” project.

On Wednesday, March 15, students and other local producers will have a “farm-to-table” tasting using the vegetables grown by the students and by others locally. The event is from 5-8 p.m. This is a cashless event and tickets can be bought in advance by clicking here.

“Please join us for a lovely evening of small plates and pass-arounds, made with fresh, local ingredients, in our outdoor learning space at Gulf Shores High School,” a post on social media from the school says. “The menu will feature local produce and proteins, as well as produce grown and prepared by our students. Visiting chefs, students, teachers and local purveyors will briefly discuss each dish and be on hand to answer questions. Tours of the updated space will be offered as well.”

The suggested donation is $35 and the students’ garden will provide lettuce, mushrooms, greens, herbs and additional vegetables. Others participating include the Southern Chili Lab and Chef Jonathan Kastner, Local Appetite Growers, Navy Cove Oysters, Bill-E's Small Batch Bacon, Bayou Cora Farms Grits and/or Cornmeal, Sweet Bee Farm Honey and Knievel Farms

Proceeds from the evening will be used to expand the Small Town, Big Garden which was started on two grants. The first was a $25,000 Innovation Grant from the Alabama State Department of Education and $7,000 from Gulf Coast Resource, Conservation, and Development, a group that awards environmental, conservation and community development grants in Baldwin, Mobile, and Escambia counties.

“Since then, we have sustained the project and expanded via additional grant funds and fundraisers,” the post states. “When feasible, we hope to add a shipping container farm to our program, like the containers in the Transformation Garden at Auburn University-- https://youtu.be/E27CVXS2QzM —so that we will be able to fully sustain our lunchrooms with student-grown lettuce, greens and herbs.”

Ecotourism and Sustainability teacher Amanda Talantis said in a promotional video about the academy that some produce from the garden is already being used in the school cafeteria.

“Now we’ll be able to give back and have that food used in our cafeteria so our student body will be able to eat it,” Talantis said. “We are creating our own stuff, growing our own food and it’s something the kids can take pride in. Also, no carbon emissions used for gas or transportation of food. We literally just walk it from the greenhouse to the cafeteria.”

Academies/Career Tech Coordinator Jessica Sampley says one of the fun parts of the project is involving students from the nearby elementary and middle schools.

 “They are going to learn about composting, hydroponics, plants and native plants,” Sampley said. “Hopefully, some day when they get to be seniors they’ll get to say, ‘there’s my oak that I planted in first or second grade.’”

Students love time spent in the outdoor space and taking a break from the traditional classroom setting.

“It's great to get out of the classroom and actually come in here and get to work with the plants hands-on,” student Beckham Smith said. “Eventually, they’ll go into our culinary class where we’ll actually make the food and serve it to the students.”

Sampley said the program is an example of a new way approaching education by involving students in more interactive lessons.

“All of this is STEAM-based, hands-on learning so we really encourage our students to get outside of the classroom and find their passion,” Sampley said. “We just hope to continue to build this program and work with the community and really teach our students to be stewards of our environment and just how important that is we take care of this beautiful place that was given to us.”