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"HAY, HAY BABY......IT'S HOTTER THAN EVER" Hay bale gardening

School:: Heritage Middle School
Subject:: Career & Technical Education
Teacher:: Lisa Gaboury
Students Impacted:: 250
Grade:: 6-8
Date:: September 7, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Shari Raymond - $1,000.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 200

We were so thankful for the person who donated so that we would have this wonderful garden! I was able to get some hay bales donated, as well as purchase using the GRANT money, so we ended up having more bales than planned! So our garden is even bigger!

So far, we have had success growing and harvesting collards, brussel sprouts, radishes, beans, peas, potatoes, swiss chard and kale. We will be planting tomatoes this next week and starting our spring round of vegetables. The students love planting, harvesting, sharing the veggies with teachers and taking them home! I love it when kids bring me back samples of the vegetables they have cooked from our garden.

This was another huge success and we could not have a garden this great without the support from the grants!

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Collards and starting beans in the bales

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Peas

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Harvesting

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Harvesting kale

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Students will plant another continuation of the hay bale garden that we have successfully planted the past 6 years. This year, I plan to concentrate on the sweet millions tomato plants. We had such a huge success last year, with plants growing taller than the students! I am proud to boast that HMS Ag has one of the best gardens at any school in Volusia County. We plan to add an even larger section of greens, herbs, sunflowers and a small hydroponic section, utilizing house gutters, into our garden this year. Hay bale gardening has proven to be extremely successful at HMS, allowing students more opportunities to plant and harvest vegetables.

What will be done with my students

The hay bale garden will be continued from last year. Students will learn about putting nutrients back into the soil, by tilling last year’s hay bales back into the ground. Learning about pH levels of soils and soil nutrients will be included. Students will also perform soil testing with the help of University of Florida Ag Extension office and our Volusia County Master Gardener, Mr. Jim Norman. Students will incorporate the Weather STEM app and probes that have been installed in our garden, to measure soil temp and water moisture percent. Once students harvest the vegetables, students will have the opportunity to take produce home, as well as deliver the produce around campus to our teachers. We are planning on adding a small, "Farmers Market" table to sell produce at the front parent pick up loop.

STATE STANDARDS:
01.0- 01.02 Distinguish the major agricultural production areas of the United States
07.0-01 Produce a vegetable crop
07.02 Compare the components of soil
07.03 Perform a soil test
07.04 Describe how climate can affect crop production
07.06 Explain the use of Best Management Practices in crop production
07.08 Model the safety precautions on a pesticide and fertilizer label
08.01 Perform plant propagation
08.02 Develop a growing schedule for plants
08.04 Compare different types of growing media
08.07 Describe principles of plant growth
08.08 Explain different methods of irrigation
12.01 Apply basic mathematics operations to solve agricultural problems
12.02 Correctly use measuring devices and utilize measurements to solve ag problems

Students will also be incorporating the things they learn in the garden to help with their AEST Certification test through Fundamentals of Ag.

Benefits to my students

Having a school garden has many benefits. Besides teaching children about the importance of Agriculture and nutrition, students learn to work cooperatively and begin to understand the value of hard work. Students will be participating in hands on activities and Inquiry based learning, which has proven to be rigorous and relevant to their everyday lives. Since Agriculture is an applied science, students often don’t even realize they are learning, “science.” Students will be applying math skills when we measure the garden to plant seeds. They will be doing science when they are learning about pH levels of the soil and plant life cycles. Students will also learn about nutrition with produce that is produced both organically and traditionally, depending on the time of the year. The most important skill they will learn is an appreciation for agriculture and farming and the understanding that without it, life as we know would be nonexistent

Budget Narrative

The items purchased are mostly consumables. The hay bales usually last 2 growing seasons or 1 year. The soaker hoses and sprinkler only last a year, due to the heat of being out all day every day. Besides purchasing hay bales, I have been lucky to have Linton Fidler, a local rancher, donate extra bales for use to use. Ace Hardware of Deltona, helps and sells us potting soil at cost and the Volusia County Ag Extension Master Gardener, Jim Norman also is a huge supporter of knowledge as well as plants or seeds.

Having a garden this large is extremely expensive, so I plan to also use CAPE funds to pay for some new garden equipment.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	40 Hay bales @ $10/bale	$400.00
2	soaker hose	$50.00
3	sprinklers	$75.00
4	Fertilizer	$100.00
5	seeds/plants	$250.00
6	Potting soil	$100.00
7	wood stakes/ string	$25.00
	Total:	$1,000.00