Growing this fall in 2006
September 14, 2026: We set up the GardenCube and seeded it to grow 7 miner’s lettuce plants. We used the seeds we collected last school year from the miner’s lettuce plants we grew. We also seeded 1 mint plant that is native to Montana. Last year we loved having access to fresh mint in the classroom, for making mint tea on extra cold days and for its amazing revitalizing scent. We plan to track the amount of water added to the system throughout the plants’ growth cycle.
September 23, 2026: While on our three-day backpacking trip in the Beartooth Mountains, we found wild mint at many locations around the lake. We always smelled it before seeing it. After gutting the cutthroat trout we caught, cooking them on the campfire, and eating them for dinner, our hands were pretty fishy! To clean up, we went down to the lake shore and rubbed our fishy hands with mint leaves, then rinsed them in the lake. The fresh mint leaves cleaned and deodorized our hands better than the biodegradable soap!
October 13, 2026: All 7 miner’s lettuce plants are growing well now. Two growplugs germinated seeds within 6 days of planting. The other 5 plants are younger because we had to reseed the growplugs, as they didn’t germinate the first round. We are still waiting for the mint seeds to germinate.
Located adjacent to the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park, Cooke City is a small mountain town surrounded by wild spaces. About 100 hardy residents call the Cooke City–Silver Gate community home. Three different wilderness areas and the park surround the small grid of homes and businesses, making the nearest town with a grocery store a 1.5 hour drive away (one-way), so growing fresh produce inside the classroom and growdome is a must.
Cooke City School is a one-room rural Montana public school, serving grades K-8. One-room school means there is one teacher who teaches all subjects for all grades. Due to the unique educational setting and the many natural and cultural resources surrounding the Cooke City area, a place-based approach to learning works well. Yearlong multidisciplinary units of study that take the students outside to apply their knowledge in real-world experiences deepen classroom instruction to engage all learners.
