FFA Garden to Fork Project
Students get their hands dirty in the school garden teaching younger generations about where their food comes from and then eat delicious, school-grown vegetables, giving students a true seed-to-fork experience that fosters a new appreciation for fresh vegetables.
Pictured, second grade students visited the Agricultural Education Greenhouse, located at Cassville High School (CHS), for plant science lessons with greenhouse high school students and FFA members. Second grade students, along with their high school mentors, planted carrots, corn, cucumbers and okra.
FFA members tended to the garden over the summer and harvested the vegetables. The vegetables were donated to community members. This past week the greenhouse class harvested the carrots planted last spring, totaling 32 pounds of carrots, from the school garden. The carrots were then donated to the CHS cafeteria staff to be used in our students daily meals.
CHS students also presented a composting bucket, payed for by a 2018 Cassville Community Foundation Grant received by the Career and Tech instructors. The composting buckets will be used by the cafeteria staff for a disposal container for the organic material leftovers while prepping the vegetables for cooking. The containers will be collected by greenhouse students and the organic materials will be composted throughout the year to create organic fertilizer that will be used on the school garden next spring. Cassville Community Foundation Grant funds provided allowed our Career & Technical Education department to collaborate between departments to take students on a field trip to learn about sustainable living. In addition it provided funds that were used to begin a composting program that allows our high school kitchen staff, food science and food and nutrition labs to recycle and reuse food scraps that would otherwise be thrown out.