STUDENTS DIG AGRICULTURE LESSONS : AREA PUPILS TURN PLOTS INTO BACKYARD ARTWORKS.Byline: Karen Thacker Special to the Daily News Groups of high school students are hard at work at the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Fairgrounds n. pl. 1. same as fairground. leveling dirt, laying stones, erecting gazebos and moving in plants. Since Friday, students have begun to transform mounds of dirt in 12-by-16-foot plots inside the fairgrounds' Alfalfa alfalfa (ălfăl`fə) or lucern (l  sûn`), perennial leguminous plant (Medicago sativa Building into
eye-catching backyard retreats.
They are creating landscape patio displays - a fair event that gives high schoolers taking horticulture horticulture [Lat. hortus=garden], science and art of gardening and of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants. Horticulture generally refers to small-scale gardening, and agriculture to the growing of field crops, usually on a large and landscape classes a chance to put their skills to work. ``It's their show - they come in and do it all,'' said Sharon Weisenberger, Quartz Hill High School Quartz Hill High School is a public, co-educational high school located in Lancaster, California. Founded in 1964, it is the third oldest comprehensive high school in the Antelope Valley High School District (AVHSD). agriculture teacher and member of Future Farmers of America. With the 58th Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival opening Friday, the plots are beginning to show promise. Displays are being created by two groups of students from Quartz Hill High School, two from Rosamond High School and one from Antelope Valley High School Antelope Valley High School is located in Lancaster, California and is part of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. It was founded in 1912[1]. It is located in the Mojave Desert. . One Quartz Hill group has a gazebo gazebo Lookout in the form of a turret, cupola (small, lanternlike dome), or garden house set on a height to give an extensive view. Few late-18th- and 19th-century rustic gazebos survive, but 17th-century turrets built up in an angle of the garden wall are not uncommon. up and plants going in. A birdbath will be added soon, says group leader Mike Ake, a senior in his second year of competition. ``I like working together and (constructing) the gazebo. And you learn in the process how to do it right,'' Ake said. The judges include local landscape contractors. Each team has a representative who must meet with the judges to explain the ``why and how'' of their project, in order to show the teens understand what their display is all about. All landscape plans must be adaptable to the Antelope Valley climate. Most of the materials are donated by local nurseries - which get the reusable material back when the fair is over. ``It takes a long time to landscape,'' said Weisenberger. ``People notice when the plants go in but they don't notice some one making the ground smooth.'' She added: ``And when the fair is over, (the students) spend 10 minutes ripping it out.'' CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--color in AV edition only) Quartz Hill High te am members, one of three high school groups entered, work on their patio display at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. (2--color in AV edition only) Ashley Brown Ashley Brown (born February 3, 1982 in Gulf Breeze, Florida) is an actress currently starring as the title character in the new Broadway production of Mary Poppins. adds plants to the Quartz Hill High landscaping entry. (3--ran in AV only--color) Christina Thompson, 16, left, and June Shannon, 17, work on their fair display. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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