Next time you sit down to eat your salad from the cafeteria, the delicious, fresh vegetables in that salad may be from the newly renovated greenhouse right outside the school.

For her Senior Project, Julia Lindemon decided to renovate the greenhouse and bring it back to life.

According to Lindemon, she noticed the greenhouse last year and, not knowing anything about it, thought it would be cool to start it up again.  Little did she know, this idea would turn into a successful senior project.

“It just turned from thinking about it to actually having it happen,” Lindemon said.

Lindemon started over the summer by getting involved with the facilities department to repair and restore the greenhouse. She began to grow the first plants about 6 months ago.

Lindemon’s love for plants and gardening started at a young age, when she used to help her neighbor with her plants.

“I kind of grew up around it,” Lindemon said.  “I just formed a love for it.”

Despite her extensive experience with plants, Lindemon had no prior experience of working in a greenhouse.

“It’s pretty much just a learning experience for me.  It’s different, but I can still apply my knowledge,” Lindemon said.  “I like how I can just go up there whenever I want.  Gardening has always been a stress relief.

According to Lindemon, the greenhouse has been successful so far.  Despite a little bit of difficulty with growing in the beginning, the plants have done well. Food service director Yogi Shupe has even begun using spinach grown from the greenhouse for cooking in the cafeteria.

Lindemon also hopes to one day start a club to help take care of the greenhouse.  She has also talked to Creative Writing teacher Allison Amato about bringing her class up there to write.

“Hopefully that will spark interest,” Lindemon said.

“Having the ability to go up [to the greenhouse] is peaceful,” Lindemon said.  “Knowing that I am growing things in there is cool.”

Caitlin Wolfarth is a Lifestyles Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.