Staff writer
What better way is there to learn about science, math, health, and good nutrition than by working hands-on with nature?
The board of education of Centre USD 397 approved a school garden project at its Sept. 14 meeting.
The project is directed by Kirk Cusick from Whispering Cottonwood Farm Educational Center, Salina.
It incorporates state standards with hands-on learning about producing food and practicing good health and nutrition.
Garden plots are being established at Centre Elementary School and Centre Junior/Senior High School.
Cusick visits the district two days a week and works with various groups of students in 30-minute sessions.
At CES Thursday, 19 fourth graders gathered east of the elementary school in Lost Springs around a circular plot staked out with sticks in the ground. Students chose the design of the plot. It is a circle within a circle.
Cusick first led a discussion about the weather and the changing of the seasons. Students were eager to answer the questions he posed.
They discussed fall crops that will be planted beginning this week, such as lettuce, radishes, and carrots. Seedlings have been started in an Abilene greenhouse and will be transplanted to the garden, Cusick said.
“Do grasshoppers help?” a student asked.
“They eat it (the garden) more than helping,” another student replied.
Students were asked to name the various creatures that eat grasshoppers, such as birds, spiders, frogs, and toads.
“What is bad is when things get out of balance,” Cusick said. “Everything has a purpose.”
He challenged students to investigate the soil. He divided them into four groups, dug up four clumps of grass, and asked students to sort through the overturned soil to count earthworms and other creatures they found.
Each group came up with a total, and then Cusick asked the entire group to add their results together, doing the math in their heads.
“This isn’t competition,” he told them. “This is about working together.”
The students found at least 204 earthworms. They also observed the roots in the soil, as well as bugs and other insects.
Cusick showed the group a rusty nail someone found and challenged students to study it and ask questions: Where did it come from? How old is it? What is it made from?
“The earth tells a story,” he said.
Gail Lorson, the students’ teacher, said the school garden enhances her classroom instruction.
“They are going to listen better here in the garden than sitting in the classroom,” she said.
Classes will continue until the end of November and will begin again in late February or early March.
Communities in Schools of Marion County is applying for a $3,000 grant to pay for the program. Cusick and his assistants will watch over the gardens during the summer. It is hoped that produce from the gardens can be used in the school kitchens.
“Children or youth involved in growing food are much more likely to eat it or try it,” Cusick said.
The farm
Whispering Cottonwood Farm is an 88-acre operation at the east edge of Salina. It has a diverse ecology including prairie, forest, cropland, horticultural cropland, an orchard, a river, and a creek.
Cusick originally operated a subscription business, or CSA, in which people paid him to grow fruits and vegetables. Produce was delivered to their door.
Based on the idea that nature is one of our greatest teachers, the farm has been developed into an educational center for those who desire to connect with nature. The not-for-profit corporation was formed in October 2005.
In addition to on-site instruction, the corporation conducts after-school programs, farm-to-school projects, and home garden consultation. It uses the organic method of production.