"Working Is Like Playing"

  

On Saturday, Nov. 2, the Longfellow Learning Garden hosted several industrious volunteers, both young and old, for its annual fall work day. The weather was perfect. The thermometers read in the low 60s, but under the warm Maine sun, it felt like a beautiful summer day.

  

It may not look like much in this picture, but the garden has been the site of much activity in the past month. These beds yielded hundreds of pounds of potatoes and carrots, while sunflowers, squash, corn, greens and radishes all slowly and steadily grew right outside of our classrooms. Even into this past November weekend, we were harvesting the last leafy bits of arugula, which didn't make it into the Spaghetti Supper.

  

To prepare for the winter months and our next planting in the early spring, Longfellow parents and students eagerly participated. Everyone was up to the challenge. As one of the kids joyously said, with shovel in hand, "Working is like playing."

One of our biggest jobs was digging out a huge pile of compost soil, loading it up into wheelbarrows, and then dumping the dirt into our beds.

 
It wasn't all back-breaking work. In fact, thanks to the generosity of the Garden Committee, kids and parents alike frequently helped themselves to cider, coffee and a Holy Donut (or two).

And if you think the winter is completely upon us, look again: Autumn is still lingering.