STUDENTS IN BRIAN Waitrovich’s fourth-grade class at Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School — from left, Achilles Denmon, Anthony Jaeger, Emma Lee Peeples and Serenity Cook — help sort lettuce harvested earlier this month from the tower garden visible in back. (Photo by Brian Waitrovich)

PEMBINE, Wis. — A class project is yielding tasty results at Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School.

Brian Waitrovich’s fourth-graders this year have cultivated leaf lettuce, kale, chard and herbs in a “tower garden” set up in their classroom.

The project has taught the students about sustainable growing, as well as how to tend the crops and see them develop, Waitrovich said.

He applied for the Farm Learning Grant from the Michigan State University Extension while still an environmental science instructor at Iron Mountain High School, where he spent 24 years. Abbey Palmer, MSU education coordinator at the Upper Peninsula and Research Center in Chatham, helped him through the grant process.

Working with Slagle’s Family Farm, they decided the best approach would be a tower garden — a cylinder that has openings at several levels for different plants and does not require soil. Instead, it uses aeroponic technology and LED grow lights that permit year-round use.

They wound up using a Juice Plus setup obtained through Bay College instructor Mary Paul, a sales representative for that company.

In the two to three months the plants took to “really come in,” the class got to learn which water and nutrient combinations worked best, Waitrovich said.

“They liked to watch what they planted growing,” Waitrovich said of his students, “and they got to see it right in front of them, in the classroom.”

They had their first harvest earlier this month, with the 11 fourth-graders doing most of the picking, sorting and bagging. They then sent their crops to the cafeteria for use in the salad bar, earning a visit from the main cook to say thank you.

“It was really fun,” said Gabe Czahor, 10, of Pembine, who said his favorite part was “seeing how the plants grew and developed.”

The cook also intends to suggest other produce to grow that could be incorporated into the lunch menu beyond the salad bar. Waitrovich said the class might next try green and banana peppers. They’re considering strawberries as well.

“It was pretty awesome,” 9-year-old Justin Stapleford of Pembine said of the project.