School news
WUHS Greenhouse Plant Sale — May 7–29
The Woodstock Union High School greenhouse is open for its spring plant sale, and it's a good one this year.
Students grow most of the plants themselves from seed, with a focus on open-pollinated, organic, and heirloom varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. A selection of harder-to-start plants is sourced from a neonicotinoid-free nursery. This year, many plants will be available in soil blocks — no plastic pots, no waste. See the CRAFT website for a list of the many plant options that will be available.
Hours:
Mondays – Tuesdays: 9am–2pm
Wednesdays: Closed
Thursdays: 2pm–5pm (Opening day, May 7, runs 9am–5pm)
Fridays: 9am–2pm
Where to find us: 100 Amsden Way, Woodstock. Drive around to the right side of the school and park near the bus barn and football field. The sale is in the large greenhouse.
All proceeds go directly to the WUHS/MS Agriculture Department, supporting the greenhouse, gardens, and the hands-on learning that happens there — from growing food to thinking about systems, stewardship, and sustainability.
A few things to bring with you:
Cash or a check made out to WUHS (write "greenhouse" in the memo line)
Boxes for transporting your plants home
Old takeout containers if you're picking up soil block plants
Come find your tomatoes, support some great student work, and get your garden started right.
Happy Spring!
Abbie Castriotta (Greenhouse/Garden Manager)
Fantastic Fungi
By Ada Mahood
On Wednesday, April 17, some fun(gi) things were happening in the greenhouse. Woodstock Alumni David Andrews and his partner Erin Donahue from Tiny Acres Farm, visited the greenhouses to demonstrate how to plant mushrooms and to talk about their business. Students engaged in hands-on activities such as drilling the holes for the mushroom spawn, learning how to put the spawn in the holes and sealing them with beeswax.
For a little bit of a backstory, David went to WUHSMS and took Agricultural classes that were offered. One year he and Kat Robbins, who helps coordinate our CRAFT department, went to Cobb Hill farm where he learned the ins and outs of mushrooms. This hands-on experience sparked his interest in becoming a mushroom farmer. He moved out to Colorado after high school graduation, where he and his partner started experimenting and growing mushrooms for their own personal use. When they moved to Maine a few years later they made the decision to switch from personal growing to commercial farming of mushrooms. Their business has grown through local farmers markets, and restaurants. Right now they have over 2,000 logs in production. They inoculate (plant) around 1,000 a year. David's long term goal is to have 10,000 logs in production.
In those 2,000 logs they grow many varieties of mushrooms including, 13 varieties of Shitake, 4 varieties of Oyster mushrooms, Lions Mane, Chestnut, etc.
All of the CRAFT classes were involved in inoculating around 60 oak logs donated by Leo Maslan. The students drilled holes in the logs and filled them with Blue Oyster and Shitake mushrooms. Middle School students “planted” a Wine Cap mushroom bed in our permaculture garden. For the Shitake, it’ll take about 12-18 months for them to fully become mushrooms, but the Wine Caps take as little time as 1 month. Come by and see the fruits of our labor!