Brewery donates barrels to Washougal schools

Washougal brewery Logsdon Farmhouse Ales recently donated four wooden barrels to the Washougal School District’s career and technical education department.

“We see a lot of ‘paying forward’ with these types of barrels,” Logsdon employee Derek Rivilo said. “They often are sent on to different uses once they have been through their useful life in a specific (brewing) process. It is important to us that they have a true purpose and a new purpose one last time.”

Washougal High School is working to earn “at-home” certification from EarthGen, a nonprofit organization that provides a variety of environmental science-based activities and projects to schools and youth programs.

Washougal students will use materials from the barrels to create “upcycled” pieces, according to Washougal High teacher Brent Mansell.

“I’ve seen ideas for cool furniture like Adirondack chairs, tables and shelves that my advanced students could create,” Mansell said. “We are very grateful for the gift of these barrels from Logsdon. I am looking forward to seeing what our students create from them.”

The students are currently building planter boxes, which could be placed in Washougal school courtyards.

“We will have students use the planters to create container gardens,” Washougal School District professional technical assistant Alex Yost, who is coordinating the certification efforts, said. “Our plan is for students to collect data on the contents of each container to input into a ‘carbon calculator tool’ to measure the impact on the environment. This project is another example of how creative approaches to teaching and new opportunities for students have continued during distance learning.”