Orcas Island School Garden

​The school garden is supported by Orcas Island School District, community benefactors, and community members. The garden provides food to the Farm to Cafeteria program at the school.

In 2017 the WSU Master Gardener interns started working in the garden as part of their intern volunteer hours. At the time the school garden teachers were spending time in the garden weekly with grade schoolers, teaching them about growing food. The school curriculum included vegetable and fruit gardening.

In 2017 the WSU Master Gardeners decided to design and plant a Native Plant Garden with a matching grant from the Orcas Island Garden Club. The goal was to incorporate Native American uses of plants, pollinator plants, and other science topics into the school curriculum. In addition, the Master Gardeners placed mason bee nesting materials and taught the fifth grade class how to harvest the bee cocoons and prepare them for winter storage.

​After a winter windstorm destroyed the garden greenhouse, the Master Gardener Foundation donated funds toward a new greenhouse. We held a county-wide pizza brunch on a Sunday morning in 2019 to celebrate the new greenhouse, which was built with financial support from the community and San Juan County Master Gardener Foundation.

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