Green Hand and greenhouse activities part of Brewster FFA observances

BREWSTER – From custom-designed birdhouses to annual plant sales, the Brewster FFA chapter is gearing up for another active year and is already well underway with greenhouse operations that will culminate in some 5,000 plants for the annual April sale.
FFA advisor Todd Dezellem, in his seventh year with the program also has his students busy in the lab performing gene transformation exercises a component of the next generation of plant hybrid development.
Dezellem said his class will spread recognition of National FFA Week over the next two weeks beginning this Thursday, Feb. 22, with much the same activities as in years past. Functions will include an ice cream social, annual BBQ and FFA-hosted breakfast.
The traditional Green Hand wall will see first-year FFA members put their handprints on the wall in green paint and revisit the wall to add their signatures as graduating seniors.
A new project will be working with the Brewster Boys and Girls Club by building a raised-bed garden this spring.
The chapter’s floral subscription service has 30 subscribers this year, Dezellem said. Subscribers receive two floral arrangements a month from January through June, created and delivered by more than two dozen students.
Each year wood shop students have built species-specific bird houses for local bird varieties. In the past kestrel falcons and wood ducks have benefitted from houses installed above Chief Joseph Dam.
“This year we built Bluebird boxes,” said Dezellem. “The students can put them up where they please and the ones that are left will be put out around the county.” subscribers.
The Brewster chapter always has a large group of students showing animals at fairs in Okanogan or Waterville. Other students are practicing for District competition and the spring Leadership contest