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WINCHESTER – Jeff Arsenault is reaching for the stars in his bid to inspire a love of gardening in the hearts of elementary students.

The educational assistant at Winchester Public School is coordinating an initiative that will send 5,000 mimosa seeds into space as part of Project Greenman, a multi-project program designed to inspire an interest in gardening among school children. The seeds will ride out of the earth’s atmosphere on one of the first commercial flights taken by Virgin Galactic – a commercial space travel venture backed by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. While no firm schedule has been set, test pilot and X-Prize winner Brian Binnie has agreed to take the seeds on one of his first flights as part of the venture. The Project Greenman Seeds in Space initiative will give area students the chance to study whether exposure to a zero-gravity environment will affect the seeds’ ability to grow. The seed pack will be donated by McKenzie Seeds, one of the project sponsors.

Once the seeds return from their flight into space, they will be distributed to students at Winchester Public School, Morrisburg Public School and other schools across North America. The students will plant them as part of a multi-school science project to see if space flight affects their growth.

This is an important scientific question because NASA has looked at the possibility of transporting seeds to places such as Mars as part of long-term plans to send expeditions to other planets.

The hope is that when students read about the spaceflight – and make a connection by planting the seeds and tending the shrubs – it will spark an interest in growing other things.

"We want to bring some fame to gardening," said Arsenault in a recent interview. "If kids see the adventure, hopefully we can inspire a greater interest, and get them out there enjoying a garden.

"And it doesn’t have to be anything big. It can be something as small as a cherry tomato grown in a planter on their back porch."

Arsenault says gardening is a wonderful pastime for families. It gives them something they can do together during tough economic times that is fun and relatively inexpensive. Families can also enjoy the health benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables they have grown in their own garden.

The educational assistant hopes the project will also inspire a love of learning through what Arsenault hopes will amount to a large-scale horticulture project conducted by kids across the region.

Once the seeds have developed into plants, the students will report back to the Project Greenman Web site and Arsenault will keep track of growth results.

Arsenault chose the mimosa plant because of its unique qualities that he hopes will pique students’ interest. Known as the "sensitive plant", its globular flowers and leaves actually wilt when touched.

This is not the first time the educational assistant has brought some excitement to gardening. Last year, he and students from Winchester Public School sent seeds to the top of Mount Everest with an expedition.

He is also making plans to send seeds on a mission with a Canadian navy submarine, and to the North Pole as part of another expedition.

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