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Only $386.80 Needed

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Goal

To add as many raised garden beds to our existing ag program so more students can experience growing their own plants for food. In addition, to allow the students to be involved in the planning and building so that they could go back to their current or future homes and duplicate it to grow their own plants.  

What will be done with my students

Students will use the raw lumber and power tools to build raised garden beds, 8' long and 24" high. these will be used to plant various fall and spring crops. In the fall we grow green beans, collard greens, squash, broccoli, peppers and eggplant. In the spring we would like to grow tomatoes, strawberries, sunflowers and summer squash. Currently we have one in-ground bed which we use for all classes, so each student has a very small place. In the spring I use it for potatoes, so there is no room for other crops, and in the fall each group of four gets a space 2' wide and 4' long. This would double the space I have to grow items. That would allow all students in Agriscience Foundations classes to grow plants instead of doing it in a rotation like we do currently. 

Benefits to my students

Most students have never grown a plant from seed to edible product. Many have never seen a seed sprout. I make them responsible for all the stages, from getting the soil ready and seeds in the ground, through the watering and weeding maintenance, then they get the finished vegetables or fruit to eat. This is a skill they can take with them in the future as a hobby, a means to supplement their families food supply, or a career. By having more room I can grow a larger variety of crops and place more responsibility on each student, encouraging more individual participation.

In addition, the current bed is accessible to the campus so sports teams or other groups on campus in the evenings have been known to snack on our items. The new beds will be in a fenced area which we can lock at night. That way the students working are the ones getting the benefit.

Finally it will be a practical application of power tools, measuring, using a level, and building with wood, all skills that are part of our agriscience foundations curriculum.  

Budget Narrative

Fortunately we can get mulch for a drainage level and topsoil from the county at no charge to my program. This would be for the raw lumber to build the beds and the weed barrier fabric for the bottom. My students would supply all labor using our existing power tools. In the future we would like to add irrigation, but right now I have them water with watering cans to control the amount of water and the rate the plants get the water.  

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