West Central Valley FFA participants are headed to Ames on Sunday, and while they have a busy schedule planned, one of the highlights of their trip will be a recognition ceremony for “Be the Seed” grant honorees.

The grant, which is sponsored by the Iowa Soybean Association and DuPont Pioneer, is for $2,500, and as we reported back in December, West Central Valley FFA is using the funds to create a reading garden behind the Stuart Public Library.

FFA Advisor Jessica Hebert says she expects work on the garden to begin shortly.

“We are actually gearing up here… we had a little bit of a setback with the weather–Mother Nature hasn’t quite been cooperating with us, but within the next couple weeks you’ll start to see some progress being made on that garden.  We’re working on getting the plants and the plans finalized.”

Hebert says her FFAers will be busy constructing the garden over the next month because those plans are quite extensive.  

“Part of the reading garden is going to be for adults, so we’re going to have a butterfly garden section for adults to be able to go out and read.  And then the second portion of the garden will be specifically geared toward kids.  A lot of the plants they will be able to find in stories that they can go into the library and check-out and read, so there will be a connection there.”

The goal is to have the garden completed before school gets out at the end of May.

To hear Hebert talk more about her group’s “Be the Seed” grant and about their ensuing trip to Ames, tune-in to today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County during the 9am, noon and 5pm hours.