Hi all! It's been awhile since I wrote and, well..not much has happened! I am in my 37th week of pregnancy so I have slowed down quite a bit and am thankful for my friend, Mandy Wieser, who has come to help assist in the school garden project while I attempt to gracefully enter motherhood (alone)!
The new year has ushered in lots more information and upcoming events regarding sustainable agriculture which I'd like to discuss here. Firstly, I want to point out who Obama has chosen as his Secretary of Agriculture of the US, Tom Vilsack.
Vilsack has been a supporter of ethanol and domestic sources of fuel-even at the expense of driving food prices up, market-driven dairy production, genetically modified foods (of course he is, he's from IOWA, a state which has many beneficiaries of GMOs) and is not very progressive when it comes to real change in agribusiness functions. I plan to post more later on how we can push for more reform, as I think agriculture/food and fuel issues should be at the top of the new president's to do list!
The next thing I wanted to say is the next couple weeks at our school project. The students are returning on January 15th and I'm not exactly sure how to incorporate the garden into the class curriculum. I know WHY gardens are important in primary school: a hands on approach to ecology and the importance of conservation, learning how to grow one's own food and fodder to reduce oil consumption for transportation, re-emphasize indigenous farming practices that are more sustainable and use less chemical inputs, biodiversity protecting the watershed that so many thousands rely on here, strengthen local economy and reduce reliance on imported foods...These things are easy to understand the importance of for an adult...but a 9 year old? I have no experience teaching kids (to tell you the truth, I don't like kids very much--despite being 3 weeks away from having my very own!) and am really searching for some good ways to make the garden project fun--if anyone has any resources, ideas or experience, please let me know!
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Perhaps the most obvious way for 9-year-olds would be to have them grow a seedling in the classroom or at home that would be later transplanted by themselves into the garden. That could work from K-2 or 3 easily or further with increased difficulty per grade.
For example, 7th or 8th graders would care for tomatoes which require a pole or stake and more care.
Clear plastic cups with dirt in them would help the smaller children see the seedlings sprout roots as well as the growth on top.
You could also have at the 4-5-6 level, have them build a simple greenhouse with a shallow box and plastic wrap to start other plants that need starting.
Hope these ideas help.
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