Piscataquis Observer reports on GrowME agricultural program
The Piscataquis Observer reported about 700 elementary students in Piscataquis County will complete an assortment of agricultural projects as part of the GrowME program. The initiative is a collaboration among the Valley Grange, University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Piscataquis County, and Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District, according to the article. Walter Boomsma, program director for Valley Grange in Guilford and coordinator of GrowME, said that by the end of this year’s program in early April, volunteers will likely have visited nearly 40 classrooms in the area. This is the sixth year of the program, and Boomsma said he thinks the continued success is driven by the goal the collaborators set from the beginning. “We established that our mission was to build a truly local program of agriculturally themed activities for kids led by local volunteers with the goal of increasing agricultural literacy and making it fun,” he said. “The kids enjoy themselves and sometimes do not even realize how much they are learning.”