East Valley farm project makes changes for season

The warmer temperatures are getting folks in the mood to get their hands dirty and start up their gardens.

It’s no different at East Valley School District’s Farm to School project, gearing up for its third growing season.

This year will see some changes and improvements to the garden, which sits next to East Valley Middle School and East Valley High School on a Bonneville Power easement. Lynette Romney, project leader, said there will be a wheelchair-accessible raised bed and new wheelchair ramps to make it easier to get in and out of the garden.

Romney said she felt there was a need to add the raised bed for a while but didn’t know where to turn to get the money for it.

Debbie Strehlou, a para-educator at East Valley High School, put Romney in touch with Steve Cook of Cook’s Forms. He also found donors in Central Pre-Mix and Spokane Rock Products.

“We’ll find money somewhere,” she said.

This year, the garden will have an acre of wheat, an acre of a cover crop and an acre for community members to plant and grow their own crops.

Romney said she will be growing wax beans this year with seeds from Second Harvest. She’ll give the beans to Second Harvest for distribution and the schools to use in student lunches.

Harmony High School students have claimed a couple of beds to grow peppers that they will dry and grind into Harmony Hot Pepper, a spicy blend of different peppers the school plans to market and sell later this year.

Students in East Valley’s botany and horticulture classes are learning how to test the soil for nutrients, organic content, minerals and most importantly, lead and arsenic.

The construction class at East Valley High School has built three sheds to store farm implements and a tractor that was donated by Spokane Valley Kiwanis.

Romney said the Kiwanis club raised the money for the tractor. Eldon Jons, a local farmer and volunteer with the farm, found a late 1970s Massey-Ferguson 135.

The sheds attracted some notice from neighbors while the construction class was building them, and Romney said the students are now building four sheds for community members.

Romney said she had been picking tomatoes from the field to ripen in classrooms around the high school, but the new sheds will allow her to hang them, on the vine, from the rafters to ripen.

This weekend, Romney and volunteers will be plowing the fields to ready them for this summer. The Inland Empire Gas and Steam Buffs will be there, many with their own classic tractors. There also will be information about getting your own patch of land to cultivate and seeds from Second Harvest and the Liberty Lake Safeway.

Romney said she plans to bake muffins and cookies made with flour milled from wheat grown in the garden.

One change this year was not an easy one for Romney to make: She said she plans to spray for weeds. She has been consulting with a soil scientist, local farmers and others to decide what to use.

Romney said the farm is a great tool for learning in the district.

“It’s great to teach kids that your food doesn’t magically appear,” she said.