Students and Campers Learn and Grow Through Gardening

The garden is more than just an assortment of plants. It’s a vibrant, living classroom that bridges education, hands-on experience, and community building. On any given day at High Meadows, you will likely find someone wandering through the garden. And if you stumble upon it in a quiet moment, be sure to explore it yourself!

Whether it is a group of senior campers building a trellis for cucumber plants to climb, an eighth grader planting a sunflower seed in late spring to symbolize the start of a new season of their life, or a kindergartener running through the garden during their early morning playtime – the High Meadows children’s garden is a testament to the busy and beautiful nature of this place so many of us love and treasure.

Gardening Through the Seasons: A Shared Experience for School and Camp

As any avid gardener would tell you, gardening is a year-round endeavor that requires careful planning, constant care, and lots of hard work. The around-the-clock nature of gardening makes it a natural fit for our community, which is always buzzing with activity. From harvesting in the fall, selecting seeds and preparing soil in the winter, planting in the spring, and then maintaining the garden through the summer, the process never truly ends.

The herb and medicinal beds offer exciting opportunities for students and campers to experiment with growing, drying, and using herbs for cooking, salves, and natural dyes.

Throughout the school year and summer, several specific garden beds and planting spaces stood out as key learning opportunities for both students and campers. The three sisters bed is a perfect example of how the garden supports the goals of both the school and camp. Designed using a Cherokee planting technique that combines corn, beans, and squash, this trio of plants supports one another. The corn grows tall, the beans climb the corn, and the squash spreads along the ground, shading weeds and conserving moisture. Second- and third-grade students planted the corn in the late spring, curious about what they would find upon returning in the fall. In the summer, campers planted the beans to climb up the corn. They even harvested “volunteer” squash from the compost and transplanted them into the bed, completing the trio of beans, squash, and corn. One camper even used corn from the garden for the meal she cooked over the fire for her knighthood in pioneering. For many campers and counselors, this was the first time they had seen corn grow up close. Their wonderment at “that hairy stuff growing out of it” was a true highlight, as they realized it was an ear of corn. As the school year started, students began harvesting the corn and beans to taste test and even shared some with the barnyard animals! As the growing season started to end, second- and third-graders could use the three sisters garden bed to learn about traditional Cherokee agricultural practices as part of their unit on Indigenous cultures.

 

A quote by Audrey Hepburn engraved on a raised bed as you enter our garden space reads, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” We have witnessed our current students and campers prepare now to share with those who come after. Environmental Sustainability Teacher Sam Mason said, “Through the many discussions the High Meadows community has had about our goals and hopes for this garden in its first year and beyond, that simple idea--prepare and share--shows how we not only believe in the High Meadows of tomorrow but are willing to put in the work to make a beautiful and bountiful future."

As we look to the future, there are so many possibilities for expanding the garden’s use, and plans are already in the works for next season’s garden plan to fully incorporate the needs, dreams, and a thriving partnership between both school and camp! Together, the school and camp programs create a continuous cycle of learning, growing, and nurturing, allowing the garden to evolve with both the seasons and the students’ developing knowledge. It is more than just a place to grow plants—it’s where we grow as a community. It’s a space that fosters curiosity, connection, and immersive learning for both campers and students. Through success and challenges alike, the garden teaches us all about the cycles of nature, the joy of nurturing life, and the value of working together as a whole community to care for the earth. It’s where learning comes alive, where children and adults can experience the satisfaction of nurturing something from seed to harvest.