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<strong>September</strong> <strong>2018</strong> <strong>Ashland</strong> Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com Page 7<br />
It Takes a Village: New Garden Greets<br />
Students at Middle School Entrance<br />
By Cynthia Whitty<br />
When <strong>Ashland</strong> Middle School<br />
kids, parents and teachers return<br />
for the new school year, they will<br />
find a rock garden at the school<br />
entrance on Rt. 135. The garden,<br />
built this summer, was a collaborative<br />
effort by Girl Scouts Elizabeth<br />
Barrett and Charlotte Perry;<br />
<strong>Ashland</strong> Garden Club (AGC)<br />
member Debra Griffin; and the<br />
town’s Department of Public<br />
Works (DPW).<br />
The rock garden consists of<br />
one large and one small raised<br />
bed with stone borders and low<br />
maintenance plants on either side<br />
of the school sign.<br />
Griffin, who is an artist, applied<br />
her creativity to the project<br />
and her desire to mentor young<br />
people in gardening in <strong>Ashland</strong>’s<br />
public spaces. She worked with<br />
Barrett, Perry and the DPW<br />
to design and install the beds.<br />
Griffin is especially interested in<br />
establishing new gardens and revitalizing<br />
gardens that have been<br />
neglected.<br />
“It’s wonderful how cooperative<br />
everyone’s been,” Griffin said<br />
of the Middle School garden installation.<br />
Erik Wallace and Brandon<br />
Barker from the DPW were able<br />
to supply Griffin with New England<br />
field stone and loam for the<br />
plants.<br />
With this project, Barrett and<br />
Perry fulfilled their requirement<br />
for the Silver Badge, the highest<br />
award a girl scout can earn as a<br />
Cadette and the second highest<br />
award for a girl scout.<br />
To receive the award, scouts<br />
must create a sustainable project<br />
that will benefit the community<br />
and educate the public. To fulfill<br />
the requirement for educating the<br />
public, Barrett and Perry taught<br />
kids at the <strong>Ashland</strong> Farmers Market<br />
how gardening is beneficial to<br />
personal and environmental well<br />
being.<br />
The girls wrote about their<br />
project: “Our principal reached<br />
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out to us about creating gardens<br />
and we agreed because we<br />
wanted to have the area reflect<br />
the pride we felt in our school<br />
community. The plantings are at<br />
the entrance to the school, which<br />
is not just seen by students and<br />
visitors, but everybody who drives<br />
on the busy main road. Also, we<br />
were excited to do something to<br />
help our local ecosystem and encourage<br />
biodiversity on a small<br />
scale and inspire our community<br />
to garden.<br />
“We learned a great deal<br />
about what it takes to put ideas<br />
into action and all the hard work<br />
it takes to work out the details in<br />
order to reach your goals. One of<br />
the best parts of the project was<br />
practicing how to teach kids and<br />
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realizing how enthusiastic people<br />
of all ages are about nature.<br />
Another great part of the project<br />
was learning how generous people<br />
in our town can be and how<br />
passionate they are about helping<br />
to implement change.”<br />
The kids have been watering<br />
the garden this summer and will<br />
continue to maintain it, texting<br />
Griffin with questions along the<br />
way. Griffin hopes they pass the<br />
responsibility on to other scouts<br />
as time goes by.<br />
“It’s about the excitement and<br />
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ownership of it,” Griffin said.<br />
As a garden club member,<br />
Griffin has revitalized several<br />
other public gardens around<br />
town, including the island at<br />
Pond and Eliot streets.<br />
AGC maintains 14 sites<br />
around town, according to their<br />
website.<br />
“Garden club members are<br />
amazing, they take care of so<br />
many sites throughout <strong>Ashland</strong>”<br />
Griffin said. “I want to help out<br />
what they are already doing.”<br />
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