Delicious veggies and more, FFA plant sale starts on Monday

Looking flowers or vegetables for your garden this spring?

Tomorrow at 9am the next round of the St. Joseph-Ogden FFA Chapter will be open for business. Orders for available plants must be done online after it goes live tomorrow at https://my.cheddarup.com/c/st-joseph-ogden-ffa-chapter-greenhouse. Buyers can set a pick-up time to collect their purchase.

Starting its second week on Monday, the sale includes Hungarian sweat wax peppers, San Marzano tomatoes, a couple types of cabbage, and broccoli. There are also a good selection of geraniums in assorted colors available.

Proceeds from the sale is to support the school's greenhouse operation help expand students practical knowledge on agriculture and growing practices.

"It gives the students an opportunity to learn while getting their hands dirty! There is a small profit made on the plant sale which goes back to the greenhouse fund to continue running the greenhouse," said Darcy Nekolny, one of the high school's agriculture teacher and a FFA advisor. "It also is used for some greenhouse based labs we complete in class as well as helping prepare the FFA members for some Career Development Events (CDEs) such as the Horticulture CDE."

This is the second year of sales after the greenhouse was completed in the fall of 2018.

"We're definitely still learning the best way to utilize the greenhouse, and what people in the community want in a plant sale," Nekolny said. Closing out her first year at SJO, she was surprised how quickly plants sold out last week. "I was absolutely astounded how quickly plants sold out last week!"

She also had a huge thank you to area residents after last week's sales.

"The level of community support for the SJO FFA, Agriculture Department, and Greenhouse has been incredible," she said. "Thank you!"