The 10th annual Dine in the Dirt event for the Southern Boone Learning Garden kicked off Sunday amidst afternoon storms.
The event is the garden’s biggest fundraiser for funding compost, rebuilding garden beds and building new greenhouses. Lyra Noce, head garden educator for the Southern Boone Learning Garden, says the funds raised are purely for maintaining the garden.
“The funds we raise will go right back in to supporting our student’s garden education,” Noce said.
The beginning of the evening entailed appetizers and garden tours but was ended early due to rain. Attendees headed indoors for a meal prepared by Southern Boone Learning Garden’s food management partners Opaa!. Noce says that this partnership helps show the community what the garden is.
“They cook the meals with the homegrown produce that we grow in the gardens, as much as possible, whatever we grow goes into this activity,” Noce said. “Then the community and families get to come and enjoy just a little bit of the experience in the garden.”
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The community came together to support the garden, but Noce says the rain might’ve hurt their attendance.
“The weather is a little rough for today, but I hope we will still reach around 100 or 120 people, but I’m not sure if that’s going to be more or less than last year due to the weather,” Noce said.
Coming to the event isn’t the only way community members support the garden. Volunteers from the FFA leadership team gave tours and handed out appetizers during the event. Noce says she’s grateful for all the support, but the purpose of the garden is to help the community.
“It’s really community led and community fed,” Noce said. “We are doing this as a community and making sure our kids get this really cool education opportunity.”
The garden is visited by all of Southern Boone County School District’s primary and elementary students. Additionally, students have the option to help with the garden through an after-school garden club. In total, over 8,500 kids visit the garden over the course of the year.
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