BARTON — Future Farmers of America students at North Country Career Center are continuing a 30-year tradition by producing wildflower starts and building bee houses for the Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District’s annual plant sale.
The student-grown plants are part of a longstanding partnership that introduces agricultural students to conservation practices while providing quality plants for community fundraising.
Every year, the FFA students produce wildflower starts and other seedlings to add to the OCNRCD sale.
Pre-orders are now open for the sale, which features bareroot evergreens, shrubs, fruit trees, and berry bushes. This year’s theme, “Embrace the Wet,” highlights plants suited for increasingly wet Vermont properties.
The selection includes wet-loving species such as willows, winterberry, buttonbush, dogwood, swamp oak, marsh marigold, and sweetgrass. The district is also offering willow stakes and fascines for stabilizing eroding shorelines.
The fundraiser supports the district’s conservation programming while encouraging landowners to enhance their properties with native plantings that provide wildlife habitat, control erosion, and capture carbon.
Orders must be placed by April 7 at orleanscountynrcd.org, with pickup scheduled during a conservation fair May 3 at the Orleans County Fairgrounds in Barton.
Orders can be placed online at the OCNRCD website at www.orleanscountynrcd.org.
