Day of Service – Trotter Innovation School (Fall Harvest Garden Festival)

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager

The Trotter Innovation School in Boston said hello to the fall and the autumn harvest on one of the last warm evenings of the season. On Oct. 7, nearly 150 members of the Trotter family attended the Green Apple event making it one of the best turnouts the school has had for a community event in many years!

Together parents, students and staff helped plant more than 200 plants in the outdoor classroom that purchased in part thanks to funding made possible by MassSave. Mary Smoyer, a retired teacher and steward of the school’s Outdoor Classroom was onsite to work with families and educate them on how to plant bulbs.  Mary and her husband also led tours through the Outdoor Classroom and anyone who wanted too was encouraged to help weed, break up sticks and beautify the space.  The Outdoor Classroom is a beautiful oasis of nature in the back of the school that helps manage stormwater runoff, is a habitat for animals and birds, and is an important educational space for all Trotter students.

Once the fall darkness fell, attendees moved inside to the cafeteria to enjoy their healthy dinner feast of burritos and salsa which was provided by Slow Food and Chipotle. Children decorated small pumpkins with their friends and family and the Trotter community continued to connect around an important topic- being sustainable in our actions and being sustainable in how we maintain our school.

The school was proud of how successful the Fall Harvest Garden Festival was this year and looks forward to working with USGBC MA Chapter and local partners next year to make this event even bigger and more impactful.