Spring is in full bloom, the harvest season has started and local gardens and farms are blossoming. Wayland High School continues to promote this spring season atmosphere, with an on-campus garden managed by Green Team and through the help of art teacher Veronique Latimer and English teacher Sara Snow.

“We try to plant things that are low maintenance because in the summertime, we don’t have a steady group of people that come and take care of the garden,” Latimer said.

The preparation and construction of the garden begins in May, and the work continues throughout the summer and fall. Since the Green Team doesn’t meet in the summer, the students are unable to regularly tend to the garden, making it crucial to grow low maintenance plants.

Latimer heard about a need for flowers at an assisted living facility in Wayland, Miriam Boyd Parlin Hospice House. As a result, the flowers grown in the garden will be donated to the facility in the fall.

“I noticed they had a sign up that said ‘things needed,’ and one of the things was bouquets of flowers,” Latimer said.

This is where the idea of donating flowers to the hospice home originated. The Miriam Boyd Parlin Hospice Home is always accepting donations of flowers.

This isn’t the only way gardens like this help the community, reusing compost from our own school cafeteria is another way.

There are also gardens and farms around town that you can buy local produce from. Not only is it supporting local business, but it is better for you. According to the American Board of Physician Specialists, local produce typically has smaller amounts of preservatives and additives, making for a healthier gut biome.

Off of Old Connecticut Path, you can find two farm stands, Rosemary Acres and Summer Salt Farm. Both farms rent out land on the Mainstone Farm that stretches 200 acres across Wayland.

The owner of Rosemary Acres Farm, Sarah Norton, sprouts the seeds in a greenhouse prior to planting them. She grows a variety of herbs, including mint, sage, rosemary, paprika and onions, which she uses to make spice blends, tea blems and dry flowers. She sells these, along with her produce, to the community.

This year marks the opening year of Rosemary Acres, and it is individually run by Norton. Norton can’t always be present at the farm, so ‘help-yourself’ stations are set up with the intent of paying Venmo with the honors system.

“So far it’s been really good, but in farming you never know what can happen,” Norton said. “It could freeze tomorrow night, in the middle of [the month], and everything would die.”

The unpredictability of the weather has always been a problem with farming. The crops need ideal temperature and weather to thrive, and when this doesn’t occur, it can be nerve-racking for farmers.

“It’s stressful to do it on my own versus working for somebody else, but it’s also really rewarding and really fun,” Norton said.