Rockland Farm Alliance educates elementary students on soil erosion, plant seeds for food
The Rockland Farm Alliance led a lesson on soil erosion.
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Second graders at Woodglen Elementary School got their hands in the mud on Monday.
The Rockland Farm Alliance led a lesson on soil erosion.
"As soil erodes, and things like that, we get different kinds of nutrients in our soil," explained Sue Ferreri, from the Rockland Farm Alliance. "And what they're learning is different ways that our environment affects our soil and how the soil and the nutrients affect our plants."
But not just any plants. These students planted several crops of their own at Cropsey Farm back in September.
"We made seed balls. A seed ball is where you make a ball with seeds in it and you have to keep the seeds safe so the birds don't get it," explained second grader Noa.
Twelve weeks later they've sprouted.
"They planted the seeds, then they came back and did a lesson on greenhouses so they got to see the stages of growth of the plant," said Ferreri. "Now they're seeing it fully harvested, so they get to taste their labor, which is kind of cool, so it's totally full circle."
And a taste test for the whole school, prepared by the cafeteria staff, and yes, it's organic.
"The salad was beautiful, whoever made it was my favorite person," said Gaelle, also in the second grade.
"It's really good it's really good," agreed her classmate, Olivia.
"I'm going to ask my mom to get the kale and the croutons," Gaelle added.
The lesson and the meal were a clear success., and who knows, maybe this is the next generation of farmers.
