NHCO Garden is Summer Classroom for Local Students

Josie is fighting hunger by pulling weeds.

"Battling food insecurity...is important. If I get to help battle it, that's great," the high school sophomore said. She’s one of three interns spending their summer at NHCO’s Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Garden, a community-supported organic garden in Bellevue. Annually, the garden provides more than 2,000 pounds of fresh produce for our food pantries. 

"Helping out. Knowing I'm doing something well with my time," said Annika, another high school sophomore.

She learned about the internship through her science teacher, Kate Robson, who is also NHCO’s Garden Coordinator.   Ari, an incoming college first-year student, will study ecology, the science of how organisms live and interact with their environment. The future biologist described the internship as closely aligned with his academic and personal interests. 

“All three of the high school interns are so different, and they bring a variety of skills to the job,” Kate said. “Josie has a great sense of humor and keeps our spirits high while we're working in the 90-degree heat. Annika is mechanically minded and can be counted on to volunteer for jobs no one else wants to do like weed whacking around the fence or mowing the orchard. Ari is very knowledgeable about plants and nature- he is doing research on how to start edible mushrooms cultivation. All three of them are hard workers, and they are like sponges for information. Over the past two months, they have learned about seed starting, transplanting, pruning, integrated pest management, and chicken care. Along with our dedicated garden volunteers Sheila, Donna, and Sharon, the interns help with feeding, watering, and collecting eggs from the flock.”

Learn more about our garden, including volunteer and educational opportunities, at NHCO.org/garden.