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FAIRFIELD – Fairfield High School FFA will hold a plant sale at its newly remodeled greenhouse next week.

Parents of FFA members will have early access to the sale from 3:30-6 p.m. on Thursday, May 8. The general public can peruse the selection of potted plants, hanging baskets, and coconut shelled creations from 3:30-6 p.m. Friday, May 9 and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 10.

FHS Agriculture Teacher and FFA Advisor Elly Stremsterfer said she and the class made the decision to hold the sale after the last frost date in southeast Iowa, which nicely coincided with Mother’s Day weekend. Stremsterfer is in her first year in the position, and wasn’t sure if the greenhouse was even going to be usable this school year. The greenhouse was built just north of the high school about 25 years ago, but had fallen into disrepair the last five years.

“Last April when I accepted the position, [maintenance director Josh Wiley] came to me about the greenhouse. He asked me if I planned to use it, and my reply was, ‘I mean, absolutely if it is usable. If it’s not, it will be hard to really show students how plant science/horticulture works,’” Stremsterfer told the Fairfield school board in December 2024.

A couple of students in particular played a critical role in revamping the greenhouse. Last school year when Haleigh Strickland and her friend Ella Holderbaum were juniors and running for Student Council co-president, they brainstormed ways they could improve the school grounds. They made a video about their idea, and that drew the attention of anatomy teacher Kala Miller. Miller told the girls that her husband, Eric, was on the school’s maintenance crew, and could give them some pointers about how to rehabilitate the greenhouse.

Strickland said the greenhouse needed a lot of work such as new fans, new doors and much more.

“I remember that it was just not nice to be in, and I thought this would be a great opportunity for the community and the school itself if this were a bit nicer,” Strickland said.

Strickland said they created a budget for repairing the greenhouse, and wrote a grant for just under $10,000 that the school district applied for and received. Sophomore Taylor Miller, a member of FFA and the horticulture class that’s selling plants, said practically the entire greenhouse is new with a new roof and walls.

During Stremsterfer’s presentation to the school board in December, she spoke about how her horticulture class nurtured the plants over bitter cold winter days, and mentioned that they transplanted more than 10,000 plugs in just over a week. The students have taken the lead on all parts of the process such as planting seeds, installing a sprinkler system and working on the tile outside the greenhouse for better drainage.