Middlebury Career Center Students Sell Their Own Herb, Flower and Veggie Starts 

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• Alison Novak ©️ Seven Days
• Instructor Kelley Mills (left) and students in Hannaford Career Center's sustainable agriculture program

On a sunny Monday morning in May, customers wandered through a Middlebury greenhouse, perusing an assortment of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and hanging baskets filled with crimson and violet blooms.

The springtime tableau could have been unfolding at any one of the dozens of nurseries across the state. But there was something unique about this particular scene. All the plants were grown by high school juniors and seniors from the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center's sustainable agriculture program.

Sustainable ag is one of 16 programs operated by the stand-alone career center, which draws students from Middlebury Union, Mount Abraham Union, Vergennes Union and Otter Valley Union high schools. Instructor Kelley Mills, who leads the course, grew up on a farm in Franklin County and has been working at the center for 27 years. The center also offers an introduction to agricultural sciences course for students in grades 9 through 12.

The 24 sustainable ag students learn about raising plants and livestock through hands-on activities. They take care of 17 laying hens and eight meat goats at the center's nearby Deep Roots Farm. Teachers can purchase the eggs, and several area farmers markets sell the goat meat. Students who complete the program earn three college credits in livestock production through Vermont Technical College.

The students' greenhouse work gets under way in February, when herb, veggie and flower plugs are delivered from Jolly Farmer Products in New Brunswick. Teens transplant them into containers and tend them while learning about soil composition, pest control and greenhouse safety.

The unit culminates with the three-and-a-half-week plant sale in May. Prices range from $2.75 for small herb pots to $35 for hanging baskets. Proceeds benefit the local chapter of Future Farmers of America, and Aubuchon Hardware in Middlebury sells any leftover plants.

Some of the participating students have agriculture in their blood. Vanessa Sunderland, a senior at Middlebury Union, is in her second year of the program. Her father owns Sunderland Farm, a sixth-generation dairy operation in Bridport.

Sunderland spends mornings at the career center, then returns to her high school for afternoon classes. In the fall, she will start college at SUNY Morrisville; when she graduates, she plans to come home and work alongside her family.

Brett Brisson, a senior at Vergennes Union, is the grandson of a Ferrisburgh dairy farmer. He said the animal science part of the program has been the most interesting, particularly getting to witness the birth of several goats. In the fall, he'll attend South Dakota State University, majoring in precision agriculture and rooming with another career center ag student from Vergennes, Isaiah Visser.

Another student, Jadyn Cram of Salisbury, said she struggled in the traditional school system and is now working toward her GED and attending the ag program as a Vermont Adult Learning student.

Cram, who has a passion for horses, said she likes being in an environment "where you're learning but you're also having fun."

"This class has actually taught me more than the whole 12 years I was in school," she said.