School farm teaches students real-life agricultural practices

REDLANDS, Calif. — On a spring morning with temps well into the 80s, sweat beaded on three Grove School students’ faces as they picked vegetables for the school cafeteria’s lunch.

“We need three maybe four crates of bok choy and red lettuce,” said Peter Drinkwine, farm manager for the Grove’s Farm School.

“Down here let’s get whatever we can grab,” said Drinkwine. “Yeah put it all together. Hurry, let’s get it to the cafeteria.”

This is a typical day at Grove School, where students decided this year they wanted their physical education class to have a Hunger Games theme, and they created costumes and “weapons,” including a bow and arrow.

The school follows the Montessori system, giving students the freedom to learn at their own pace and in their own purposeful activity. If a child is being destructive or using materials in an aimless way, the teacher will redirect the child to more appropriate materials or to a more appropriate use of the material.

“We don’t learn because we’re in a classroom; we learn because we are human,” said head of school Ben Moudry. “Our role is to bridge the gap from being a child to being an adult in the world.”

Moudry said he worked with science teacher Beth Elliot for a student project about the environment around them. One student choose sustainability because he “had to choose something.” The teacher mentioned the student’s love of motocross and suggested he focus on making motorcycles more environmentally friendly.

The student did, according to Moudry, and ended up becoming active and engaged in the project.

“You have to have renaissance teachers who can bridge the gaps between Dickens and algebra and cooking and motocross,” said Moudry.

Back on the farm, complete with fields, livestock, outbuildings and a farmers’ market, students have assigned jobs, and if they don’t do them there are real world consequences.

“Adolescents are trying to find their place in society. That’s what the farm is; it’s a microcosm of society. As adults, it’s our job to guide them through that process.”

“It’s pretty fun,” said seventh-grader Colin Garcia. “(You have to) make sure you keep everything alive.”

Colin said two rows of lettuce were eaten by aphids over spring break. Drinkwine said the loss shows students how things happen in life.

Colin and a few of his classmates walked their harvest over to the cafeteria, where students will help prepare lunch for the 212 students on campus.

They handed the veggies off to Kiah Till, 13, who will help prepare the meal. That day it was vegetable soup with homemade bread, a salad and pumpkin bread pudding for dessert.

“I’m the cook at home,” said Kiah. “I picked up a lot here.”

She said her favorite thing to prepare is naan, an Indian flatbread.

“I’m a better cook than my mom now,” laughed Kiah.

Some students, like Max Pagliughi, 12, even decided to start a farm at home.

He said he has “a little garden” with beans, lettuce and watermelon and he will be adding in a drip system soon to conserve water.

None of them has dreams of pursuing a career farming or cooking — Drinkwine said that is rare — but that’s not the point of the farm, according to Neil Schiavo of the Education Development Center, a think tank in Boston. He has studied schools with farms or gardens across the country and said his research shows extensive benefits for children.

“Kids are experiencing science. It’s their own experience. They’re not stuck in a classroom reading about others’ experiences,” said Schiavo.

He said students were much more engaged in science content with hands on learning and the benefits go beyond science programs and can even help children for whom English is the second language; they learn English and math faster.