They say you eat a pound of dirt throughout your life. "Today, though, is not that day," said Wareham Free Library trustee Johnna Fredrickson as she surveyed a group of Tabor Academy students on September 29.

Tabor Academy, a private school based in Marion. held its annual Fall Service Day on September 29. Tabor students fanned out across southeastern Massachusetts to perform community service for area non-profits in Wareham, Acushnet, Marion, Rochester and Mattapoisett amongst others.

In Wareham, it was time to "winterize" the library's public garden, which had grown squash, beans and tomatoes, as well as herbs, over the summer. The students pulled out all of the annual summer plants (which only bloom once) and cleaned out the flower beds, planting marigolds as ground cover until winter snows set in.

The students also created a new garden bed next to the library's porch.

After the gardens were raked clean and dotted with marigolds, the students bustled inside the library to make food from the herbs that had been harvested from the garden. Fredrickson showed the students how to make oil dips using olive oil, cheese, tomatoes and herbs. "Aren't you lucky that you're volunteering here!" she said with a laugh.

The students then sat down and sketched out or listed ideas for the next year's garden, which Fredrickson hopes to base on the "Three Sisters" - corn, beans and squash. "It's very traditional, it's what the Wampanoags would have grown, so we want to try that," she explained.

While the students at the Wareham Library worked away, other Wareham students arrived at Tabor's campus to compete in the academy's "School Day Games."

The School Day Games were organized by a student-run group, Tabor Special Olympics. This fall's event featured Special Olympics participants from across the South Coast, including teams from Dartmouth, Wareham, New Bedford and the tri-town.

Tabor students played alongside visiting athletes in several different games, including relay races, basketball and football.