Horizon Education Center students eye record for longest cucumber

LORAIN — Students at Horizon Education Centers' East Lorain campus have been rolling up their sleeves the past several months to try to break a record for the world's longest cucumber. Kids and staff at the east side center off Colorado Avenue have kept a garden for the past two years, but this is the first time students are trying for a world record, teacher Ashley Shepherd said. "We're not that far," she said, surprised by how far the plants had come since they were planted in March. Sebastian Suski of Southampton, England, holds the record, at 44 inches long, according to the Guinness World Records. Horizon Education Center's goal is 48 inches long. As of Wednesday afternoon, its longest vegetable was 26.5 inches long, according to students' measurements. Shepherd was hopeful students could beat the record by the end of the growing season. Outside of the ever-lengthening cucumbers, the center's harvest so far has included zucchini and other vegetables, with watermelon and cantaloupe soon on the way. The soil used in the homemade garden plots was from composted leaves, she said. Shepherd's kit, from The Ohio State University, includes seeds for year-round harvests of spinach, bok choy, collard greens and other vegetables and herbs using an indoor greenhouse, hydroponic garden and directions on how to cover their outdoor plots for growing in cold weather, she said. "It's fresh, it's clean," she said of the center's meals with the homegrown vegetables. "And it makes them want more. … Because they're used to like, the grease and stuff, it's just not good — that sugar. This is an explosion of flavor." Recently students have enjoyed zucchini bread and other summer squash-based treats, and sold some too to raise money for the Animal Protective League, Shepherd said. The Colorado Avenue location competes with other Horizon Education Centers to see which can raise the most money for the APL, and will tally up their totals at the end of the week. "Everything is what the kids grew — so you give a little, you give it back," Shepherd said, adding later a lot of families take extra vegetables home to cook as well. For 11-year-old Bryan Clemens, the garden has been a fun experience, he said, and he especially enjoyed trying the different food cooked from the vegetables they grew. His favorite was fried zucchini. Horizon Education Centers offers summer camps, child care and after-school programming. The students participating in the garden were from 6 to 12 years old. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.