Growing futures, Chambers Co. Agricultural Ed. Plant Sale
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
CHAMBERS COUNTY — The Chambers County Future Farmers of America Chapter is holding its Annual Plant Sale Fundraiser — allowing locals to help grow futures, one plant at a time. The sale will be held at the Inspire Academy Greenhouse, April 6 through 10, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cash and checks are accepted, and all pro- ceeds benefit Chambers County FFA student activities. Shoppers can find a variety of plants — from houseplants to fruits and vegetables for summer gardens.
“Everything we have was grown by our students,” said Chambers County Schools Agriscience Instructor and FFA Advisor Trenton Brooks. “We have lots of things to choose from, we’ve got lots of house plants — a good number of Boston Ferns and Wandering Jew baskets.
We’ll have lots of Geraniums in baskets as well, and all kinds of vegetable transplants — tomatoes and peppers, of several different varieties. The kids have worked really hard, and they’re really excited about it.
“I think it’d be a great opportunity for anybody who is gardening or enjoys plants to find the items they need for the summer while supporting local students. We have lots of items that would be great for people’s home gardens, and the students and I pick varieties that would do well for people’s gardens in this area. Shoppers are also probably going to find our stuff to be a little cheaper than they would at any of the box stores. So I think it’d be a good opportunity all around for anybody here who is looking for plants for their house.”
Brooks said preparing for the Plant Sale takes months of planning and preparation, helping teach students time and project management.
“This has been an ongoing process for most of the school year,” he said. “When we started the school year, and we first got students in, they spent time cleaning up in the greenhouse from last year, sanitizing and getting ready for this year. All winter, they’ve been sowing seeds and trays and potting stuff up into larger containers, and it’s a big part of our classes and what we do on a daily basis. We just kind of funnel that into a big sale that accumulates a lot of what they’ve learned over the year.”
Along with project management skills, Brooks said students also learn agricultural skills and how to present their products in a professional manner.
“Some of the techni- cal skills that they’ve learned doing this are going to be just the skills and art of propagating plants and making them look right for a customer,” he said. “So we talk about all the time, ‘if you were to go into Lowe’s or Home Depot, would you buy that plant?’ I want the students to make them look professional. And then some of the other things that they’re learn- ing from this are some of those soft skills that we talk about — just how to market to people, how to talk to customers and how to behave in a professional environment.” As a year of student work and dedication comes to fruition through the Plant Sale, Brooks said community support benefits agricultural education in Chambers County, and shoppers taking the time to pur- chase plants encourages the students.
“As the sale gets closer, the students are getting more and more excited as the greenhouse fills up,” he said. “They can see the plants grow in our inventory — and you can tell that some of those students that you really didn’t think were going to care much about it have real- ly latched on to this and gotten excited about it. We had a lot of support from the local community last year for our Plant Sale, and we deal with some of the local businesses here as well for our program. We always feel very well supported and helped out whenever they can. So we feel very welcome and supported by everybody here.”
