by Colton Gillespie on March 21, 2024
You may have been wondering, what are the two big clear buildings behind Grafton High School? Well, the two buildings are greenhouses that are ran by the FFA students and of course our wonderful adviser Mr. Tennant. Well, what is a greenhouse? A greenhouse is a building that traps the sun’s heat and helps plant grow. Since frost and cold climates are very harmful to most plants, these greenhouses are very important for us to do what we do!
There are a few different types of greenhouses. High tunnel greenhouses are meant for you to produce things like vegetables year-round. It basically extends your growing season for your garden. Then, there are also greenhouses like the one we have that is meant to start or grow plants. Our second (new) greenhouse is a hydroponic greenhouse. It is meant for plants to produce year-round without soil and instead use only water to maintain everything the plants need to thrive.
What is happening at the FFA greenhouse now? If you ever buy flower or vegetable plants you know that right when it stops frosting and begins warming up, you go to a greenhouse and buy your plants, then go home and plant them. (Or buy a bunch of plants right before you have company come over) Well plants do not grow overnight. (And if you do have plants that grow overnight, contact me because I want them!) Your average tomato plant takes roughly 6-8 weeks from seed to transplanting time. So, if you figure Mother's Day is your last frost date, the greenhouse should be in full swing!
What is the process of starting and growing plants? Well, some people think that only green thumbed people can grow plants, but it is easier than it may seem. (Not really but I’m just trying to motivate you!) Now I will not ramble on about all my secrets, but if you have moisture, heat, and light, you can be very successful growing plants. But not all of the FFA plants are germinated in our greenhouses. A lot of our plants are started in greenhouses in Canada! We will purchase things like “plugs” that are shipped right to the school. Well, what are plugs? Plugs are pre-germinated plants that are ready to be planted in our pots, so all we have to do is keep them alive until they are sold. As germinating seeds can have a lot of errors and risks, it is best for us to buy the pre-germinated plants and flowers. But this year we are experimenting and attempting to grow a lot of vegetable seeds to see if it is something that is worth us doing in the future. As the plant plugs are nice, they are a big expense for us, and seeds are a lot cheaper, but they require more effort and time. So, if we like germinating ourselves, then we will be able to cut down our expenses and educate our chapter members on germinating along with raising plants!
What do we do with all of the FFA plants? Well, what we do is very simple, we sell them! We take our “plant” money, and we use if for many things. It is like a complicated, far more labor extensive fundraiser. But the fact that many students get to learn the process of raising plants makes it worth it. One day we all very well may have to depend on ourselves and local farmers to grow and raise products to be able to eat, but we use the profits to help us with our competitions, traveling, many of our fun FFA activities and more things the benefit our chapter! (or if you ask Mr. Tennant he jokingly says it's for his retirement fund.)
Now, when you drive by Grafton High School you now know what the large clear buildings are in the back. Also, you know how a lot of our chapter members and Mr. Tennant spends countless hours working in the greenhouses to help with our chapter. So, we appreciate anyone and everyone who supports our FFA chapter in any way, shape, form, or fashion. As the art of farming is fading, we are just trying to keep the tradition alive!
