Butler Catholic garden gets dome for greenhouse
Butler Catholic students returned to school Monday to a nearly constructed, dome-shaped building in their garden, which some said looked like the Disney Epcot ball.
The structure is the beginnings of a geodesic dome greenhouse, which the staff said will help provide food to the community and the school’s cafeteria.
Kathy Dudley, director of development and garden club coordinator, said a group of parents helped begin work on the greenhouse last weekend. They hope to have it completed in the next few weeks.
“We want the students to learn about alternate energy sources, how to grow food year-round without electricity and in this wintry climate,” she said. “And we get to feed our community based on what we’re doing during our school day.”
The greenhouse has panels of north-wall insulation, Dudley said, that reflect light and process solar heat. The panels allow for even light among the plants inside.
“It incorporates a pond for aquaponics,” she said. “It’s an ecosystem unto itself,” she said.
She added that dome was designed in Colorado to withstand extreme weather.
Students in third through sixth grades will have the chance to participate in the garden club and work in the greenhouse. Dudley said the club can have as many as 50 students participating, and teaches various components of gardening.
“We started with nothing five years ago, we had an Eagle Scout build us vegetable beds. Then we wanted to expand it,” she said.
The school’s backyard now has a pollinator garden, pumpkin and potato patch, fruit trees, blueberry and raspberry bushes. The students also help maintain a chicken coop, where the collected eggs are used in the school cafeteria.
Some of the harvest is donated to local food pantries, Dudley said, and a portion of what comes from the greenhouse will, as well.
“The fifth- and sixth-graders are really lucky. They really get to establish the use of the greenhouse,” she said.
The first group of garden club students to see the greenhouse marveled and explored the garden, talking with Dudley about growing strawberries and other fruits inside.
“I’m excited to learn how to take care of plants in a shady area,” said Guerin Hammonds, a sixth-grade student.
“You see how much enjoyment they get out of it,” Dudley said. “They’re excited, and I’m excited too.”
Sister John Ann, principal of Butler Catholic, said the greenhouse is unique to other schools in the area.
“For an elementary school, that’s a phenomenal project,” she said. “To see how many students are trying to farm at home because of it, it’s an extension of their learning.”
