AdAgrA 2021: Hidden Treasure

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AdAgrA: Adventist Agriculture Association

Angela Boothby Frauenfelder

Melissa Clayton

Vickie Esau

Thom Mayer

Anna Perea

How’s the Ag “Pulse” in our Schools? Panel Discussion

Today we have a pretty exciting thing to share with you.

We have a panel of all sorts of different people in different places in education.

So we are going to learn what is going on in some of our schools and we're also going to hopefully empower some of you who are currently homeschooling or teaching to have great ideas of how to be successful with including gardening and regular school curriculum.

You know, all that math and science and stuff.

Can you please tell us what is going on at Daystar?

I know you're doing something new this year.

Yeah, it actually we started it last year with respect to the farm and the students working on the farm.

This is my sixth school year, my family and I serving at Daystart and the first year I came I was super excited.

I'd been apprenticing with Lin Hoag and learned a lot of stuff from him and was just all amped up on this school that had a farm.

And so, when I first got there, I remember I was teaching in the classroom the first year I was there and I worked very little on the farm that first year because I had so many classes.

But I was asking the students, do you love working on the farm?

And It was because there was too much repetition in certain things, like just pruning tomatoes or whatever they got bored of.

And so 1 of the things we started implementing last year was creating a space for the students where they had their own plots, student plots.

They chose what they grow there, or what they are gonna put in the ground, and then that food we grow for the cafeteria.

And anything extra they add into the market garden side of things and we keep accounting of what they sell and that goes back into their student plot fund.

And that has made it really, it's created a lot of ownership where they, you know, this is my little spot.

And like this year we have this greenhouse that they're growing in and they each have, the way it's worked out, they each have 3 little beds.

And Kirk, our ag teacher, has, he worked it out where exactly 1 bed and an aisle way is exactly 1 hundredth of an acre.

You know, what would I have grown, what would I have been able to grow if I grew an acre or a half acre or whatever it is.

And like last year, it was our Bible teacher who was teaching the ag class.

And those 2 classes obviously blend so well.

I mean, it's nothing but a lesson book out there, you know?

I have not introduced the lovely panel, have I?

All right, so we'll start with Tommy, can you just give us a little quick introduction and then we'll go down the line and have an introduction?

Yeah, so my name's Tommy, I work at Daystar and it's our sixth school year there, like I said.

If any of you have not ever been to that neck of the woods down there in southeastern Utah, visited Arches National Park or Moab or Canyonlands.

My name is Vicky Esaw, and I'm the Ag Director at Jefferson Christian Academy over in Jefferson, Texas.

This is also my sixth year working there.

I'm originally from Nebraska, So it's like moving to another planet when you come down here as far as gardening goes I'm used to having a break for the winter you don't get that in, Texas And what's something really special you're doing today?

This year we are 1 of the pilot schools for the new Acquainting Agriculture Program that Ad Agra is developing with the help of these lovely ladies.

We have, we sent out, ooh, in June or July, a message to the world asking who would like to pilot our program, because before you publish it, you really need some feedback.

And so overnight, Anna got 100 replies from all over the world saying, I'll pilot the program, I'll pilot the program.

And we were so excited to have Vicky on board.

And she's been awesome with giving us some really helpful feedback with what are some strengths and weaknesses of the program.

Hello, I'm Anna Perea, and I am currently market farming, well at least trying to Market Farm in East Texas, pretty close, Northeast Texas, close to where Jefferson Academy is.

We have about 30 acres there, and it's been a really awesome process.

And now this year, I'm homeschooling my boys, 8 and 6.

And I've dabbled in it a little bit, but now we're full.

You know, we got the curriculum and we're homeschooling.

And so my big challenge has been how to integrate homeschooling and farming, because it doesn't seem like there's time for both.

But anyway, so I'm really excited though to learn and yeah.

I was a middle school and elementary school for several years, elementary school teacher for several years before I had my own children.

And now my family owns and operates a small market farm in northern Michigan.

And I have 2 young boys who will be starting homeschooling very soon.

So we learned what Daystar is doing with a little bit more ownership and making time for both a full on market garden and also time for the students to feel like they have a part and they get to have a little bit more autonomy with choices.

Vicky, can you give us a little bit what you have gleaned from doing the pilot program?

Has it helped you to incorporate this big gap that seems to exist?

How on earth do I run a full-time garden and yet at the same time make sure that I'm meeting curriculum standards?

Before this year we actually, we just had a student work program at our school.

And agriculture was 1 of the work options where they could work down their tuition that way.

But this year, we've switched from that style of program to actually being a full on vocational program.

And so they said, okay, you're gonna have to teach agriculture as a vocation.

And it was panic on my part, I have to say, because I knew I was gonna have to teach to standards.

I was gonna have to cover the expected topics and everything.

And we are growing a fairly, well, for 1 person running it, it's a fairly big setup.

And I just really didn't know how I was going to come up with how to do this.

And so I was yelling loudly, pick me, pick me, for this pilot program.

I don't have to worry about meeting all of the required standards.

I know that if I'm just following this curriculum, they're gonna get everything that they need to know to come out of there and be able to not only grow their own food for their families 1 day, but also with the skills to become market gardeners or work in an agriculture situation, they're going to come out of this program with a good set of skills.

And so that has been a big, big blessing.

And we did too this year, we started with the students each having their own garden plot.

And it is awesome to see them start from the very, very beginning, you know, where they're planning, okay, you know, what am I going to plant?

How do I square up the corners using math?

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How’s the Ag “Pulse” in our Schools? Panel Discussion

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