A community garden in La Quinta, California, will play host to the gardening efforts of a number of middle school students.
According to the La Quinta Sun, pupils from Col. Mitchell Paige Middle School will work on the garden, which is located on 2,400 square feet of property near the school. On the land the students will grow a variety of produce, including tomatoes, lettuce, radishes and lemons.
In order to prepare the land for the garden, a John Deere lawn mower was used to dig up the grass on the field. Students from the school's garden club went through the field picking up the loosened grass by hand.
"This is a good way for us to be healthy because we are growing our own fruits and vegetables," 12-year-old student Kristie Jones told the paper.
Janet Jonasson, who is the faculty advisor for the garden club, told the Sun that four weeks will be needed for the land to be fully prepared, which will include installing an underground watering system.
The efforts of the students at the middle school reflect an overall trend across the country. Locally-grown products are becoming more popular with consumers, and even the U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking steps to encourage regional food-growing production.