Terri Cain, who runs Guilford’s community garden and for several years has helped manage a special children’s garden for local elementary schoolers, wasn’t sure this summer if the popular program would be able to continue. The pandemic made funding for this kind of activity uncertain, and designing the physical layout and infrastructure to make the program run safely was far from simple, according to Cain.

But last week, despite the first creeping frosts settling on grasses and gardens across the shoreline, A.W Cox students made their first trip to the specially designed, community-built children’s garden, as they and other young horticulturalists will have the chance to get outside and learn about science regardless of how the school year proceeds thanks to some generous and talented community members.

“This is where the community really came in,” Cain said.

Three parents—Peter Kilkelly, John Galli, and Jim Bussmman—worked to make Cain’s new pandemic-safe garden design a reality, she said, a design that allows every student to safely enter and work on a patch of land while always maintaining proper social distancing.

“I just gave them my drawings, and they just made it happen, which is beautiful,” Cain said.

Lumber for the construction was donated by Ring’s End, a New England hardware supply chain with stores in Madison and Branford, and special soil was provided for free by WeCare Denali, a landscape and compost company operating out of Farmington.

Cain said that she simply began asking around to see if she could find someone who could help provide these things maybe at a discounted rate, not expecting that these two companies would give them to her for free.

“I was just so amazed,” Cain said.

Canestri Plumbing & Heating has been taking care of the water lines for the entire existence of the garden, Cain said, and has continued to do so through the pandemic.

All these people working together is what has allowed the unique program to continue. It’s something for which some local parents are grateful, given how limited these types of extracurricular opportunities are this school year.

Kate Scharf, a parent of a Cox student who is currently participating in the garden program, said she and the school community were very happy to see the garden return in 2020.

“It was terrific,” Scharf said. “We can still be involved and contribute [to the garden] even with the restrictions that are in place.”

Scharf said students learn about the importance of gardening and sustainability in general, as well as more specific soil-science related concepts that are connected back to school curriculum, making the program a versatile and unique experience for some of Guilford’s youngest citizens.

“It’s really a year-round effort,” Scharf said. “[Cain] really likes to involve the children and the students with their families to have them understand and [appreciate] all the good that [the garden] does.”

Even if the schools have to return to a fully remote model of learning this winter or spring, Cain said she has procedures and methods of allowing students to come tend to their garden patches (currently growing garlic for the cold months) on their own time, meaning the program will not be halted by the pandemic, or by the weather.

“One thing that I was sure of...is I wanted to develop a program and a garden space for the kids that they could come to with all of the right social distancing and all of the safety measures in place,” Cain said. “I [am] very excited about this.”