News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters sixth-graders planted seedlings at the Seed-to-Table Farm at the edge of town.
Sisters students know something that too many Americans in the 21st century have forgotten: Food doesn't just magically appear in the grocery store.
A group of sixth-graders got a hands-on lesson in where their food comes from on Friday, through the Seed-to-Table program. The kids piled out of busses at the Seed-to-Table Farm adjacent to Mahonia Gardens on the southeast edge of Sisters. The farm plot is located on land donated by the Tehan family and funded by community sponsors and the Sisters Science Club.
The students had already done some work on the projects that would absorb them through the morning. They had started seedlings of kale, radishes, spinach and more in a greenhouse, and now they were going to put them in the ground under the supervision of Lauren Griswold, a Seed-to-Table coordinator.
The seed-to-table concept is literal: the students will be eating their own produce.
"You'll have to keep your eyes peeled in the cafeteria, because this very spinach, kale ... radishes might turn up in your salad bar," said Griswold. "Seed-to-table!"
Griswold supervised and assisted the students as they picked a planting spot, dug an appropriate hole and eased their plantings out of their containers, gently preparing the roots for the ground. They used butter knives to stir in a bit of bone meal, manure and basalt to make sure the plants had good nutrients to start with.
They learned that their plants would have to be covered at night to keep the Sisters Country chill from doing them in.
"At night we cover these," Griswold explained. "Tuck them into bed."
As one group of students was planting, another was engaged in a blind taste-test of produce typical of that produced by Mahonia Gardens. Farmer Benji Nagel served up beets, kale, asparagus, purple cabbage, brussels sprouts.
"This is a very small sampling of the kinds of things you can grow in Sisters," he explained.
The sixth-graders tasted with blindfolds on while a partner asked them survey questions. Some of the students found the produce to taste; some didn't.
Students also explored compost, and Nagel quizzed them on what they'd learned about its properties.
Beyond "poop is "green!'" they learned that compost holds moisture and provides nutrients that help make plants grow in a challenging Central Oregon climate.
The Seed-to-Table program is designed to provide nutritious alternatives for Sisters students to eat at school while providing them with hands-on science and arts education opportunities. From the Seed-to-Table Program's farm plot, students and community members provide fresh produce to the Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank and to Sisters schools. The program works with Oregon farmers and distributors and has brought in over 2,500 pounds of nutritious, locally grown and processed foods to the Sisters schools.
The program is one of several innovative education programs in Sisters schools, supported by community members and organizations that strive to expand local students' experiences and educational experiences.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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