When second-grade teacher Kayla Spence began the science portion of standards for her classroom at Eastside Elementary School, much of the learning happened inside the classroom.
“Students were learning about the life cycle of plants, so we planted marigolds in class,” Spence said.
Eastside Elementary special education teacher Tollis Bond knew there had to be an outlet for the second-graders to be more “hands-on” in an outside environment. That’s why Bond applied for an agricultural education grant made available by Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance’s Whitfield County Board of Directors earlier in the school year.
In January, the school was awarded a $500 grant to build raised garden beds behind the school for students to grow vegetables and plants. The second-grade students recently began planting vegetable varieties such as carrots, potatoes, onions, beets and radishes.
“I knew that Georgia Farm Bureau really pushed a lot of agriculture and in working in second grade for one of my (teaching) segments, I remembered (second-grade teacher) Valerie Dunn had told me about the gardening portion of their standards,” Bond said. “So, I asked if they would help plant and maintain a garden with the students if I filled out the grant, and they were willing.”
Bond said the raised garden beds allow students to grow plants “so that they’re not just reading about the standards or watching a video about it, they’re actually going out and doing it.”
Spence said the garden gives her students a new learning experience.
“Now, our students have more than just a plant inside the classroom,” she said. “Now, they can actually see how they can grow their own food.”
Bond said after receiving the $500 grant she purchased the materials for the raised garden beds.
“I spent probably $497 of it at Lowe’s and bought the vegetable seeds, soil, border, labels and spigots for the water hoses,” she said.
The garden beds are behind the school’s playground.
“One of the guidelines for the grant said we could build the garden, but that it could not be right up against the actual school building,” Bond said. “So, we bought water hoses to hook up to one of our spigots by the building and take down there. I tried to put the garden where at least the sun could come up over the trees out back and hit it. I’m hoping that’s a really good spot for it.”
The day before students trekked outside to plant their first seeds in the garden, Bond said she, along with her husband Brandon and youngest son Brylan, came to the school and built the raised beds.
“I really would’ve liked for all of the kids to be a part of actually building and putting the beds together, but we had to cut the boards and place big corner stones and I thought that would just be too heavy for second-graders to assemble. So, we just went ahead and put it together.”
Before students began planting their selection of vegetables, Bond invited a close friend, Kevin Flowers, to volunteer and speak to them about the gardening and farming process.
Flowers, who grew up in a farming family in South Georgia, was a “big help” in setting up the project for the students, Bond said.
“He is super knowledgeable about growing gardens and he helped gather all the stuff we needed,” Bond said. “When he moved to the area, his family bought a lot of farmland in Murray County and they grow about everything they eat, except for meat. You could ask probably 10 people about agriculture, farming and gardening, and they wouldn’t know as much as he does. That’s why I knew he’d be perfect to help our students gain some background on what they were doing.”
Flowers said he suggested vegetables like radishes and beets for the garden because of their accelerated growth.
“Most radishes can come out of the garden in around 22 to 25 days,” Flowers said. “Beets are the same way; you can start pulling from them in 25 to 30 days.”
Per the guidelines stipulated in the grant application sheet, the project must be fully completed with direct student involvement by April 3.
“Then Georgia Farm Bureau is going to come back in May to see pictures of the before and after,” Bond said.
Flowers said he was surprised to see second-grade students so eager to learn and plant.
“When I was handing them potatoes to plant after cutting them, it was like I was giving out candy,” he said. “They were going crazy over it. That’s not what you would typically think about when you’re planting radishes and beets. They were excited.”
Flowers said he jumped at the opportunity to teach the students because it gave them the opportunity to “get more involved” in the gardening.
“It seems that a lot of kids now, they don’t know where their food comes from,” he said. “To me, this is all I was exposed to. When I moved up here, I still see agriculture, but it’s a different style. Talking to some of these kids, they had no idea about the agricultural process. Some of them were like ‘Oh, vegetables come form Walmart or a grocery store.'”
Flowers said it’s “important to know where your food comes from.”
“I do outreach and speak to people in Atlanta sometimes and there, it’s just concrete,” he said. “They don’t know where their food comes from. There’s a disconnect where they just know to eat it and that it comes from the store. But this way, it kind of gives people and students a little bit of reconnect.”
Once the vegetables are ready to be picked, Bond said she has an idea on where to use them.
“With anything that’s grown out of it, we would like to take our produce to a local homeless shelter here in Dalton,” she said. “That way students are not only learning, but they’re also giving back to the community.”