Did you know that October is National Farm to School Month?
Who better to embrace this annual celebration than Home Winds Farm!
Created by Congress in 2010, Farm to School Month celebrates the connections happening all over the country between children and local food. Educators are challenged to integrate taste tests and nutrition educational activities into the classroom, as well as farm visits and school garden harvest parties.
While most students travel on buses or go long distances to see where and how their food is grown, our students only need to take a walk. With Lower School Science Teacher Lynn Prosen at the helm, Farm to School Month jumpstarted our year of experiential and place-based learning, and the Lower School’s exploration of our 208-acre campus is now in full swing.
Lower Schoolers have been taking trips to Home Winds Farm and its two-acre garden, following up on the research they have been doing in the classroom with real “field” experience. These hands-on lessons not only teach them procedures for outdoor exploration, but they build up their observation and questioning skills.
First into the field: our Third Graders visited the garden to enhance their study of the “three sisters” (beans, squash, and corn). Of the three sisters, the students have been taking a deeper dive into corn: exploring its history, traits, cultural connections to both Hispanic and Native American Heritage, and its extensive culinary and daily product uses. Fun facts: There are four different types of corn, and corn by-products can be found in everyday items like shampoo and gasoline.
Each grade has a different food and farm focus, and they include: apples in preschool (and how it becomes applesauce), pumpkins in PreK, sunflowers in Kindergarten, beans (which we tasted in our garden) in first grade, cucumbers in second grade (from which we saved seeds), and tomatoes (which we tasted in the garden) in fourth grade. Each grade will explore their focus food in the Discovery Science Lab as well as with a recipe or two in the Kitchen Discovery Lab.
While every month seems to be Farm to School Month at GSB (how could it not with the beautiful Home Winds Farm across the street?), the national celebration reminds us of the vital connections between food, education, and sustainability. Whether it's tasting fresh produce, learning about cultural food traditions, or exploring the many ways agriculture impacts our daily lives, our Lower Schoolers are building lifelong knowledge and appreciation for where their food comes from.