By Catherine Ellerton
Moapa Valley Progress
Once more a Fair puzzle is being assembled; each piece put into place by the Agriculture Students at the Mack Lyon Middle School.
One of the first pieces holds the roto-tiller that Saul Quirarte used to till the land just west of the Mack Lyon campus. The second piece to be added is the mulch pile that is waiting to be added to the land. The students explain that a compost pile filed with egg shells, orange peels, coffee grounds and food scraps – the green leafy variety – is in the master plan.
There are several pieces held up by Dalton Gordon and Tiffanie Belcher that show the good bugs – the lady bugs, spiders and praying mantis – that will protect the young plants from the bad bugs – the dreaded aphid.
Novice gardener, Andrea Leavitt, explains the drip lines that have been added to meticulously bring water to the waiting plants.
Once the ground was made ready, then the vegetables were planted. There is broccoli and spinach, onions and garlic. There are raised beds that contain tomatoes, peppers and herbs such as oregano.
Logan Karvonen adds that the onions and spinach will be the students’ entry in the Horticulture section of the Clark County Fair and Rodeo.
This is an ever expanding puzzle….there are many pieces representing fruit trees that will soon be planted and the new vegetables – potatoes for one – that will be planted in the future.
Guiding all the pieces together are Cozette Marshall and Kevin O’Toole. Ms. Marshall is a Mack Lyon teacher and when the need arose for another electives program, she volunteered to take on a student garden. Kevin O’Toole, the manager of the MVHS Ag Farm, joined Marshall in this awesome adventure that continues to grow in scope. Entries into the Fair will be just another way to add to the fun.
Local gardeners are encouraged to enter their own home grown produce in the horticultural exhibit of the Clark County Fair. Entry information is available on the Fair’s website at www.ccfair.com.
