Middle school greenhouse is coming alive

It was a clear and cold Tuesday morning - just nine degrees - and 20 sophomores from Rima Givot's biology class were all bundled up and eagerly hiking from the high school to take part in a new adventure in the recently refurbished greenhouse located on the east side of Sisters Middle School.

They were about to get the jump on spring by planting seeds for what will become 1,600 seedlings of native sulfur buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum, a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name sulphur flower buckwheat, or simply sulphur flower.

This was the first step toward an ambitious native planting project taken on by the U.S. Forest Service, Sisters Science Club, Sisters Garden Club, Sisters Farm Bureau, Sisters School District and a host of other partners.

Before the students could set foot in the greenhouse they had to go through a disease-free protocol to ensure no diseases would be introduced into the growing environment. Shoes had to be sprayed with a disinfectant, then upon entering the facility, hands had to be bathed in a disinfectant and then everyone had to place nitrile surgical gloves on their hands.

Once the sterilizing process was finished the seed containers were opened and the students placed from two to three buckwheat seeds on the surface of a growing medium in the 200 "dimples" of the growing trays. The seeds were then moistened with a light spray of Sisters tap water and each seed dimple was then covered with a moisture-holding ingredient.

Temperature was of no concern for the seeds, but of great concern to those who wore only surgical gloves, which, according to science club helper Cal Allen, "Had a lot to be desired in the insulation department."

It took a full class period for the students to fill all the trays and place the containers in two white plastic bags to ensure the moisture content remained stable. Everything in the greenhouse at that point simulated what the seeds would face, had they been planted in their native habit.

Later, a second group of high school students returned to the greenhouse to plant the seeds for another 1,600 Oregon sunshine, Eriophyllum lanatum.

Like the buckwheat, the Oregon sunshine, when in bloom, are vital to the butterflies of the high desert for nectaring, while the native square-spotted blue, Euphilotes battoides, uses the buckwheat as a food plant for the caterpillars.

The native plant project will continue on with future plantings of Idaho fescue and squirrel-tail bottle brush, and when completed, Lee Riley, a restoration specialist with the Forest Service, will be on hand to make suggestions of how to keep the growing project going to fruition.

Greenhouse director Kit Stafford, a teacher at Sisters Middle School, has already set plans into place to have high school volunteers keep an eye upon the plants during spring break.

Sisters Science Club members, with the financial aid of the Sisters Garden Club and other partners, and under the leadership of David Hiller and Cal Allen, have plans underway to build a series of raised beds on the north side of the greenhouse that will enlarge the native plant project.

Plans are also underway to begin the next phase of growing vegetables for what the greenhouse corps are calling "From Seed to Table," where students will be responsible for growing vegetable plants that will grow in the greenhouse and be cooked in the school cafeteria.

The greenhouse itself wasn't built where it is by accident, or as someone's pipe-dream. Nine years ago Dave Priest, who was in charge of the Forest Service tree-growing up to his retirement, had his eye on that spot for a greenhouse and, with the help of Heart of Oregon kids, put it up.

So, the greenhouse lives on. Sisters Science Club will expand its usefulness, and students from both the middle school and high school will profit by it's operation. The Forest Service will have hundreds and then thousands of native plants to heal over the land, and eventually students and teachers will be dining on healthy veggies grown in the greenhouse.