Spur schools’ Myles Hammack, a teacher, applied for a grant from Texas Farm Bureau and received the $500 grant, plus an additional $200 from the Dickens County Farm Bureau.
The grant project is called “Learning from the Ground Up Garden Grant,” and the money will be used to teach students the importance of growing living plants. The school already has a greenhouse, and Hammack is planning to restore the structure. Some planting has begun.
On a blustery, dusty Monday afternoon, Hammack walked The Texas Spur through the greenhouse and his ideas for revitalizing the facility via the gardening grant.
“Our goal is to involve as many students as possible,” he said. “For example, we’re going to reach out to local businesses, such as Star Feed and Seed, to get plants and supplies, and we’ll have senior English students write those proposals. If we grow peppers, we can incorporate some of that process into the Spanish classes, as well as the cooking classes. Elementary students will learn about the overall planting and growing cycles.”
Hammack talked about the need for revitalizing the greenhouse after several years of damage. “Hail has destroyed a lot of the panes, and it needs a new storm door. It’s a good thing that I was into construction before I began teaching, because I can do a lot of the work myself.” In his seven years of teach
In his seven years of teaching at Spur, Hammack said that he had seen some scattered use of the greenhouse, but his goal is to restore the facility to its full potential so that everyone at the school can use it.
Hammack and his students have already begun utilizing the greenhouse by starting some seeds in flats and pots. On this March afternoon, while a sandstorm raged outside, the sun had warmed the greenhouse, which sheltered plants in a calm and bright environment.
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