Greens of Belfast pupils’ labors to be featured at conference

AUGUSTA – When folks sit down for lunch at the annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism next week, they’ll be feasting on greens grown in Belfast.

Pupils at the Troy Howard Middle School have been hard at work since December, sowing and tending a wide variety of greens in the school’s greenhouse.

On Tuesday, they expect to harvest about 50 pounds of the greens for the annual business gathering, which will take place at the Augusta Civic Center on Wednesday.

More than 300 are expected to attend the conference, including Jim Bacon, premier of the Australian state Tasmania.

The theme of this year’s conference is sustainable and agricultural tourism, and planners turned to SAD 34’s innovative agricultural program for some fresh, pesticide-free Maine greens to brighten their tables.

“They asked us if we wanted to participate and we lost our heads and said, ‘Sure, we can do that,'” said SAD 34 agricultural coordinator Donald White on Thursday. “The greens are ready to be cut, bagged and trucked to Augusta.”

The school district has incorporated outdoor gardens into its teaching for years and now has a greenhouse to expand its teachings. Supported in part by a $19,000 grant from the MBNA Foundation, the district’s greenhouse at the middle school has made it possible to operate the program year-round.

“We like it. It’s fun to do and it gets you out of class,” said Jimmy Spencer, a seventh-grader from Belfast. “It’s a new thing for me. My mom usually does the gardening at home.”

Spencer and his classmates were at the greenhouse Thursday morning, cultivating and watering the beds of spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots and Asian greens. Over the course of the school year, the middle school pupils built the greenhouse’s raised wooden beds, hauled the soil and compost, planted seeds and kept detailed records of their activities.

Social studies teacher Steve Tanguay said the program was instituted in September. He said the greenhouse was incorporated into the seventh-grade economics curriculum this year. The students use their laptop computers to keep track of germination rates, crop yields, finances and markets. The laptops also are used to print business cards, do spreadsheets and compile information posted on the district’s Web site.

Pupils pay themselves a hypothetical monthly salary based on work and production. The pupil with the highest salary at the end of the year is awarded a savings bond.

The Augusta conference will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions.

Highlights:

. Keynote speaker will be Judson Hale Sr., editor-in-chief of Yankee Magazine and the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

. A morning session featuring a kick-off by Jonathan Tourtellot, director of sustainable tourism for the National Geographic Society.

. A panel discussion involving Maine businesses and nonprofits whose operators will provide examples of sustainable tourism practices. Among those on the panel: Jim Amaral, president of Borealis Breads; Russ Libby, director of the Common Ground Country Fair; Natalie Springuel, president of the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides & Instructors; Linda Pagels, Calais city manager; Theresa Hoffman, director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Association; and Don Cyr of the Acadian Cultural Commission.

. Premier Jim Bacon of Tasmania will present a case study that will show how his administration’s master plan, “Tasmania Together,” has made his island state a model for sustainable tourism development.

Afternoon concurrent workshops will feature a lineup of national experts on agritourism, community hospitality programs, packaging and marketing.

For information on the conference and to register online, visit www.mainetourism-conference.com. The Governor’s Conference on Tourism is the project of the Maine Office of Tourism, the Maine Tourism Commission and their major conference partner, the Portland International Jetport.