For our Food unit in Environmental Science at PGHS, we’re discussing the evolution of agriculture — with an emphasis on sustainable farming, environmental implications of food production, and factors that affect food availability throughout the world.
To give it a hands-on lesson component, we’ve started an on-campus garden!
We hope to impress on students how communities can work together to create alternate healthy food sources that increase availability while limiting environmental impacts. Students are responsible for most of the caretaking: planting & watering seeds, monitoring growth & documenting changes, and constructing a raised bed for the seedlings.
By teaching students how to grow their own produce, we aim to give them skills that will enable them to help with projects that provide their communities with healthy food sources, such as neighborhood gardens. We’re also cultivating their sense of pride in supporting one’s community through giving — the seeds we planted will hopefully mature to provide enough food for not only our students to enjoy, but to allow them to donate to local food banks.