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Students get a taste of farm life
Three schools participate in farm to school week
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
The Tidewater School kindergarteners Sam Henshaw-Black, 6, left, and Noah Wurtz, 5, wash and peel potatoes for stone soup for the Farm to School education program at the school.
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They didn't go to the farm, the farm came to them. This was true of three Calvert County schools last week for "Maryland Home Grown Lunch Week," held at Appeal and Plum Point elementary schools and The Tidewater School in Huntingtown.
The program, operated through The Maryland Farm To School Program, is meant to introduce students to locally grown produce and teach them a little bit about what it takes to be a farmer, Calvert County public school's Dietician and Nutrition Specialist Valarie Parmer said at Plum Point Elementary School in Huntingtown on Tuesday last week.
Appeal Elementary School in Lusby held its farm to school activities on Thursday.
At Plum Point and Appeal, students went through rotations in which they met farmer Joe Swann of Swann Farms in Owings; got to pet baby goats and lambs; learned to plant seeds; and studied where various food products came from.
Students at Appeal and Plum Point also shucked their own corn, which was served to them at lunch.
"It was good that they got to see something that was locally grown as opposed to shipped in from another state," said Plum Point fourth grade teacher Shirley Wesner, who continued that she thought petting the animals was the highlight for most students.
"They thought it was wonderful," she said.
Parmer agreed saying, "I heard lots of giggling and laughing … I think animals have that effect on kids."
Swann, however, said that despite the fun nature of the activities, there was a definite learning component as well as an element that might take children out of their comfort zone, as a small number of them seemed familiar with farm work.
"Very few, maybe a half dozen [have experienced this before]," Swann said of the activities in which the children were participating. "There are a few that have maybe worked with Grandmom and Pop-Pop in the garden but it doesn't go too far beyond that."
4-H program assistant Ariana Strahl of University of Maryland extension program, which assisted with several of the different rotations, said she hoped the activities would change students' perception of farming.
"I think a lot of people think farming is a dying breed because the older farmers are dying and nobody young is replacing them, but it's not like that. There are a lot of young farmers," Strahl said.
At The Tidewater School, students not only learned about produce and farming; they put their chef's hats on.
"We've been learning about vegetables and we're reading ‘Stone Soup,'" said assistant kindergarten teacher Jan Demer of the Marcia Brown book.
The Tidewater students created the story's title recipe last Wednesday.
"These are tomatoes, these are potatoes; what is this: a radish or a turnip?" kindergartener Sam Rodilosso asked, pointing out his own contribution to the soup.
"We're keeping our vegetables fresh until we put them in the soup. I did the purple stuff; that's onion," Sam said.
The stone soup wasn't The Tidewater School's only activity of the week. They also made mosaics out of beans; tasted different vegetables; learned to categorize fruits and vegetables; sorted apples; and made "green monster dip" out of avocados, according to kindergarten teacher Suzanne McAlexander.
"It's lots of fun," McAlexander said, adding that the activities were very much supported by Tidewater families, many of whom belong to Community Supported Agriculture systems.
The students enjoyed the change of pace as well.
"I liked trying cinnamon; it's a bark you can eat," said kindergartener Owen Quicker.
His classmate, Alessandra Reinhart, said that while her favorite part was "everything," she particularly enjoyed eating carrots and yogurt.
And kindergartener Breanna Gott could not get enough of the stone soup.
"Yesterday we tasted it so we're making another batch today," she said.
