After a few setbacks, the West Prairie School District greenhouse is set to welcome the public at its open house Saturday, April 25, just in time for planting season.
When the high school and middle schools moved to their new facilities in Colchester, the ag department's greenhouse at Sciota didn't come with it. At the Colchester site, the old greenhouse was in severe disrepair, creating difficulties in providing quality horticulture and ag science experiences for students.
Thus began plans for a new, state-of-the art facility. The classes are eager to get started on Saturday, April 25, when they open for business. The hours will be from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday and 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. during the week.
'It's an absolute godsend that we got this,' said horticulture instructor and ag teacher Sam DeCounter. 'I forgot how much I enjoyed having a greenhouse.'
Alison McGrew, another ag teacher, works with the eighth grade STEM program and has plans for utilizing some of the space for various science projects. High school science teacher Regan Chatterton also has plans to conduct some activities in the facility next fall.
When asked about the best part of being in a horticulture class, senior Madelyn Sullivan said, 'Just having a greenhouse because we didn't have one for a couple of years.'
Fellow senior Jack Carpenter echoed that thought and added that he likes seeing everything actually growing. Classroom time is spent on planning and designing flyers and price lists for the upcoming open house.
'I grew up working in a greenhouse, so I know a little bit about it,' said Harley Knox, a sophomore, as she fertilized one of the many hanging baskets that will be available throughout the rest of the spring.
Probably the most innovative part of having a greenhouse is that it can be utilized year-round.
'We're working on the USDA Local Food Initiative so that when we come back in the fall, we'll grow cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce that can be used in the cafeterias,' said DeCounter.
The facility did have a minor setback a few weeks ago when the area was hit by a blizzard. According to DeCounter, the main monitoring unit 'just decided not to work' that day. 'Fortunately, much of the plants survived,' but some of the succulents along a side wall didn't make it. One of the preventive measures in monitoring the greenhouse is use of the school's wifi to acquire data about possible outages or other problems.
The greenhouse is located adjacent to the campus rather than in a more distant location to make it more accessible to students leaving the building to work on the plantings and other projects. It's also more convenient for the community when they stop by to make purchases. The contractor for the project was Limbaugh Construction out of Granite City, Illinois.Total cost to construct and provide infrastructure services was $322,896, according to the district office. Of that amount, approximately $96,000 went into the construction of the 60x30 building. The rest of the costs were for plumbing, electrical and other landscaping and parking lot services.
'The structure is basically like cardboard. It's corrugated plastic three-quarters of an inch thick with air space, which is the best insulation,' note DeCounter. Almost all of the interior equipment was transferred from the Sciota campus greenhouse, including sturdy metal tables to house the variety of plantings.
While the facility is 20 feet longer than originally expected, Decounter noted that extra space is never a problem, especially with plans for the future.
Already DeCounter is looking into expanding/ exploring. 'We're diving into aquaculture just a little bit, like tilapia and catfish.
When asked about how to market this product, DeCounter said, 'I'm hoping we can have a couple of fish fries and some community engagement.'
