Partnership produces donation for food pantry - Beaver Dam Daily Citizen

Partnership produces donation for food pantry - Beaver Dam Daily Citizen

A partnership between Life Academy, Dodge County Master Gardener’s Association and Beaver Dam Area Community Gardens helped produce more than 60 pounds of vegetables to donate to the food pantry in Beaver Dam.

Life Academy is a transition program for 18 to 21 year old students with disabilities. It help students transition to the working world. Life Academy is a partnership between Green Valley Enterprises and the Beaver Dam Unified School District.

Life Academy students worked with volunteers from the Dodge County Master Gardener Association at a plot in the Beaver Dam Community Garden over the summer, learning how to weed, when to harvest and other skills.

Instructor Joann Lehman said the students were pleased to share the fruits of their labor, both at home and with the food pantry.

“They were proud to bring vegetables home to their families,” Lehman said.

The garden included lettuce, spinach, peppers, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, radishes, corn and more. Lehman said tomatoes proved to be the most productive crop. The least successful crop? Corn. Something was eating the tassels, and Lehman reported that the corn that did grow was eaten by animals.

“The students were encouraged to try things they had never tried before,” Lehman said.

She said radishes proved popular with some students and not so popular with others.

At the Life Academy house, students also grew herbs including rosemary, chives and oregano.

Life Academy students also take field trips, and field trips over the summer offered lessons in aquaponics, composting and more.