Spence Farm Foundation purchased a hoop house for Prairie Central High School and it is now in full production. As you can see the salad staples, lettuce, carrots and radishes, are growing well. Hopefully, this makes you hungry for a fresh salad! A recent harvest has even been sold at the local grocery store and the produce sold out quickly.
When the hoop house was assembled, appropriate preparation of the site was important, because the site was a former area where there was significant water run-off. Once the structure was erected, the students built benches for half of the hoop house, to be used greenhouse style, and the remainder of the space is being used like a hoop house – where the plants are directly sown into the soil.
Several students will be working to monitor the plants in the summer. Some future opportunities include selling veggies to the public through a small CSA and growing food for the school cafeteria. 
