Week 1 Update - Young Farmers
Welcome (and welcome back!)
Our goal for the first day of every new semester is to anchor students in our school agreements, which keeps our learning environment safe.
Here are the agreements that we reviewed today:
I will be safe with my hands and feet
I will be respectful to others
I will respond to my mentor when addressed
I will treat all life on the farm respectfully
I will stay on the paths between the garden beds
I will always ask before picking
I will use tools safely
Our next order of business was to choose our sit spot for the semester. This is our special place where we spend some time observing and taking in the natural world without interruption. We then journaled a detailed description of our sit spot.
We then had a discussion about the difference between dirt and soil. It’s a fundamental concept that exposes some of the dark side of conventional agricultural practices. Ask your student for the answer - it may surprise you!
After snack, we took an herb walk and learned about some of the wild plants growing on our farm and their medicinal value, including verbena, mallow and plantain (not the banana!) Over the course of the semester we will be learning how to identify plants based on patterns in families. Ask your student to describe the pattern for a plant in the mint family. (Answer: square stem, opposite leaves, usually aromatic smell.) Using this method, after learning only 10-12 families, they will be able to identify the families of over 50,000 plants, no matter where they are in the world!
After what seemed like a very long winter, we finally transplanted our tomatoes today! The students learn how to properly size the hole, add sifted compost, and carefully plant the seedling. We made short work of an entire 100 foot row before lunch. Well done!
Even though we had five new students, you wouldn’t know it by lunchtime. They integrated beautifully and new friendships are already being forged.
After lunch we paired off and went on a scavenger hunt which served as a review of some of the plants we learned in the morning, as well as a fun way to orient ourselves to the farm space.
The day ended too quickly as usual. I’ll try to take more photos next week.
Have a lovely weekend!
Ms. Bridget