From Freshman Doubts to Gardening Glory:

My Journey Into Growing

Gardening. Was it the club that I expected to join during my freshman year of high school? No. Was it my first choice? No. Honestly, I was more of an inside person. However, by a twist of fate (by me procrastinating my club choosing), I ended up in the class.

We all talked a lot about what was to come. Raised beds teeming with life, a big hydroponics table filled with greens, bees to make honey, and a big shed were some of the many things we discussed. For now though, it just looked like a field, a forest, some wood, and a few pieces of rusty metal.

We worked for months on the raised beds. We spent the blazing hot hours of Florida-fall afternoons putting together piece after piece after piece of metal. Many left the club. My friends and I though, we stuck it out, wondering if this might one day be worth it. It would be.

Slowly but surely, our little garden came together. The raised beds were finally finished! At long last, it was time to plant.

There were a billion seeds to choose from. Tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, brussel sprouts, basil, dill, green beans, peas, and more were planted. However, we did know that it was nothing if not difficult to grow a garden completely from seed. We had to be patient.
Things began to get done. The foundations for the shed and hydroponics table got built. The shed got built. Even the bee hives eventually showed up. We continued to tend our garden and it was soon time for winter break.

Once we got back, almost everyone had left the club, done with the difficult work that to them wasn’t leading anywhere. Unfortunately for them, the days of true and exciting gardening were approaching. All our hard work was about to pay off.
We were in for a surprise when we walked over to the garden that first day back in class. The hydroponics table and tent had been installed, and that was wonderful, but best of all, our beautiful little garden had grown exponentially! Sure, it was growing things before, but now they were huge. Some were even ready for harvest.

We did all we could to help them grow. As things ripened and\or became ready to eat, we used them. Basil for pesto sauce (it was delicious), lettuce and peas for salad, our first tomato (!), and more were some of the amazing treats I have received from my hard work.

To be honest, this class has become not only fun but interesting. I have truly learned so much more than I ever thought I would from this incredible experience.
Gardening. Was it the club that I expected to join during my freshman year of high school? No, but it was incredible. Was it my first choice? No, but it totally should have been. Was it worth all the hard manual labor and blazing hot hours? Yes, and I am so grateful I could be a part of it, especially with my amazing friends.

This is the first of many articles. My future blog posts will be on more specific topics about our gardening and our journey with it, and I am thrilled to be able to have this opportunity. I would also like to give a shout out to my incredible teacher who made all of it possible (and spends what I’m sure is a lot of time killing the awful caterpillars who storm the plant beds). Thank you so much, Mrs. Witherspoon!

Brenna Farrell is a 9th grade high school student at the Classical Academy of Sarasota. She is an avid reader, a budding artist, and a Star Wars enthusiast. She competes at the national level of the U.S. Academic Decathlon. She loves to spend her time with her gardening club and artist guild, where she is expanding her skills in writing. She loves to volunteer at her church and travel on grand adventures with her family. She is pursuing her dream of being an astrophysicist.