Amara Wright, 3, selects her favorite vegetable from the market at Broad Street Elementary School. Fresh produce is available for free, but donations are appreciated. Holly Mead/Special to the Eagle

Grow your own — and learn along the way.

Broad Street Elementary School, partnering with Summit Elementary, has been educating its students about agriculture and growing vegetables the past two years after receiving an agricultural grant to get such a program started.

“The kids absolutely love it,” Broad Street Elementary teacher Meghan Lucas said. “Summit has greenhouses, so a lot of vegetables are grown there that we can use. But we grow some ourselves as well.

“We grow lettuce, spinach, squash, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, banana peppers … We even do basil, oregano, time, elements for seasonings. The kids pick the produce, wash it, water the plants, do weeding, labeling. They are very involved. This has become a fun educational tool in so many ways.”

It all culminated Thursday afternoon on the patio of Broad Street Elementary with the first Broad Street Fresh Market Day. Community members stopped by to get produce while being asked for donations toward the school’s agricultural program.

Donations will also be used toward the Summit Elementary CAPS (Community Agricultural Partnership) program.

Broad Street Elementary School opened its market where the community can get free produce. Holly Mead/Special to the Eagle

A similar “Market Day” will take place July 25 in the Butler Memorial Hospital lobby and back on the Broad Street patio on Aug. 1.

“This helps the community as much as it teaches our children,” Broad Street Elementary principal Vanessa Boyd said. “It’s nice that people can walk down the street and get fresh produce, rather than have to get to a store.

“This day marks a kickoff for us. When school opens, we will have a produce store inside of the school. Produce will be available every day for people who come in.”

Lucas said Thursday marked a bit of an “experiment” for the school’s Fresh Market Day.

“It’s going pretty well so far,” she said. “We’re getting customers.”

One of those customers, Paul Crooks Jr. of Butler, said he was impressed with what he saw.

Alexander Orsborn waters some of the produce growing in the gardens at Broad Street Elementary School. Holly Mead/Special to the Eagle

“I’ll definitely come back,” he said. “This is a good idea. The kids are learning how to do it (grow vegetables) and they’re having a good time. They’ll pass this on to their own kids someday … This can be an ongoing thing.”

Anther customer, Angella Johnson of Butler, agreed.

“I love it,” she said. “Learning how to grow your own produce is an important skill to have in life. In a downtown school, our kids are learning that.”

According to Lucas said, this is the first time since the program started that there’s been enough produce to open the market.

“Our city kids didn’t know a thing about this stuff before,” she said. “Now, they walk by and help water plants and hang out … Even though school’s closed, it’s still open in a way.”