Final report for YENC22-174
Project Information
"Rooted in the Community" is a summer camp program for youth in the west-central region of Illinois hosted by Carl Sandburg College, based in Galesburg. The free, two-day camp introduced children aged 9-12 to sustainable agriculture practices, purposes, and careers. The camp staff worked with local farmers, community gardeners, nutritionists, and ag educators to teach campers about sustainable agriculture through hands-on activities, field trips, and educational presentations. The 2022 and 2023 camps explored sustainable community farming, distribution, and practice. Sandburg will host two summer camps, two days each, open to youth throughout the district.
- Introduce youth to sustainable community ag practices and purposes through hands-on activities in the Galesburg Community Garden and field trips to local farms.
- Provide information on careers in sustainable agriculture through meetings with farmers and educational presentations from ag educators.
- Encourage youth to shop locally and capitalize on nutritional benefits by learning about healthy eating practices and how to prepare nutritious meals.
- Ensure equitable access to sustainable agriculture education by working with community stakeholders to offer Rooted in the Community free to all participating campers.
- Share project results through social media, radio interviews, press releases, website publications, and conference seminars.
Cooperators
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Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
2022 Camp
| 7/26/2022 Tuesday | 7/27/2022 Wednesday | ||||
| 9:00 |
Pre Survey 9-9:30
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Soil, Plant Processes, Types of Crops 9-10
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| 9:15 | |||||
| 9:30 |
Travel 20 min 9:30-9:50
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| 9:45 | |||||
| 10:00 |
Spurgeon Garden 9:50-10:30
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Sandburg Green House 10-11
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| 10:15 | |||||
| 10:30 |
Travel 30 min 10:30-11
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| 10:45 | |||||
| 11:00 |
Trillium Dell Farm 11-12
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Sandburg Community Garden 11-12
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| 11:15 | |||||
| 11:30 | |||||
| 11:45 | |||||
| 12:00 |
Lunch (at Trillium Dell Farm) 12 - 12:30
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Lunch 12-12:30
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| 12:15 | |||||
| 12:30 |
Travel 44 min 12:30-1:15
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Travel 15 min 12:30-12:45 | |||
| 12:45 |
Cornucopia 12:45-1:15
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| 1:00 | |||||
| 1:15 |
Belted Cow Orchard 1:15-2:15
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Travel 15 min 1:15-1:30 | |||
| 1:30 |
Monarch Butterfly 1:30-2:30
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| 1:45 | |||||
| 2:00 | |||||
| 2:15 |
Travel 44 min 2:15-3
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| 2:30 |
Certificate Ceremony 2:30-3
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| 2:45 | |||||
| 3:00 | |||||
[Day 1]
Spurgeon Garden field trip - Students learned about a variety of vegetables how they are grown and get ready for the market. The gardener showed different plants and flowers that are grown around the garden to protect the vegetable plants from being eaten. Students learned about the importance of organically grown vegetables and how to maintain the health of the garden.
Trillium Dell Farm field trip - Students learned about the local farm business history and their animals. Students had opportunities to go meet and touch the animals while the farm owner explained how the animals supply and support our local grocery stores. Students visited the timber business site and learned about how the farm runs the timber frame business for sustainability.
Belted Cow Orchard field trip - Students learned about various types of apples and how they are grown. Students got to taste different types of apples and visited the orchard store and enjoyed apple slushy and apple donuts. The orchard also does bee farming and students learned about the important roles the bees play and what goes into bee farming.
[Day 2]
University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Education - Students learned about various types of soil. How the ground consists of different layers of soil. Students learned about different types of crops while preparing the seeds of those crops at the Sandburg Greenhouse. Then they planted the crops at the Sandburg Community Garden. At the Community Garden, students learned how to take care of the garden. They helped the master gardeners harvest green beans, zucchinis, and garlic. Students also learned how to use various tools to remove weeds.
Cornucopia Natural Market & Deli field trip - Students visited a local health store where they sell only organic produce from local farms. Students toured the store while learning about many healthy options of snacks and products made from alternatives dairy and meat. Students got to taste organic plums from the store.
Monarch Butterflies Workshop - Students learned about the critical role butterflies play in agriculture. They learned all about how distinctive monarch butterflies are compared to other kinds and how we need to protect them.
2023 Camp
| 7/25/2023 Tuesday |
7/26/2023 Wednesday
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| 9:00 | Travel (9-9:15) |
Travel (9:10-9:30)
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| 9:15 |
U of I Extension Soil, Plant Processes, Types of Crops (Green House, Community Garden) (9:15-11:15) Sandburg C204 Chris Enroth
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| 9:30 |
Luck-E Angus (+Lunch) (9:30-12:30) 587 Knox Hwy 26 Galesburg Kevin Engel
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| 9:45 | |||||
| 10:00 | |||||
| 10:15 | |||||
| 10:30 | |||||
| 10:45 | |||||
| 11:00 | |||||
| 11:15 | |||||
| 11:30 | |||||
| 11:45 |
Travel 30 (11:30-12)
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| 12:00 | |||||
| 12:15 |
Nayborhood Farm (+Lunch) (12-1:55) 1412 Barefoot Rd, Knoxville Chris Nay
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| 12:30 | |||||
| 12:45 | Travel (12:30-12:45) | ||||
| 1:00 |
Cornucopia Natural Market & Deli (12:45-2:00)
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| 1:15 | |||||
| 1:30 | |||||
| 1:45 | |||||
| 2:00 |
Travel (2:00-2:20)
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| 2:15 |
Travel (1:55-2:25)
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| 2:30 |
John Deere (2:30-3:30) Sandburg G108A Traci Bertelsen
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| 2:45 |
Corteva & Pioneer, Ag drone & wind machine (2:30-3:30) Sandburg G108A Sarah Potts, Natalie Vujanov, Emily Huber
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| 3:00 | |||||
| 3:30 | |||||
| 4:00 | |||||
[Day 1]
University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Education - Students learned about various soil types. How the ground consists of different layers of soil. Students learned about different types of crops while preparing the seeds of those crops at the Sandburg Greenhouse. Then, they planted the crops at the Sandburg Community Garden. At the Community Garden, students learned about various cover crops and how to care for the garden. Students also learned how to use various tools to remove weeds and plant seeds.
Nayborhood Farm field trip - Students learned about the local farm business from Nayborhood Farm and their Shared Harvest program for the community. Students toured the Nayborhood Farm and, harvested some tomatoes pumpkins and picked flowers to bring home. Students had pizza that was made by the farm owner on site.
Corteva & Pioneer - Students learned about ag drones and wind machines. Educator representatives from Corteva and Pioneer demonstrated ag drone through their drone simulators. Their presentation consisted of heavy types of machinery that are used for planting and harvesting. The new technologies help farmers, along with green energy efforts in agriculture operations. The interactive presentation allowed students to ask questions about the modern combine harvester operations, their capacities, and the financial perspective of the farming business.
[Day 2]
Luck-E Angus farm field trip - Students visited a local Angus farm and learned about cattle farm operations. With the owner's expertise as an engineer and repairman for the agriculture machinery, students had opportunities to hear detailed operation mechanisms of various farming equipment and ride them, such as a combine, a straw spreader, a harvester for beans, etc.
Cornucopia Natural Market & Deli field trip - Students visited a local health store where they sell only organic produce from local farms. The store manager provided a guided tour for students to learn about many healthy snack options and products made from alternative dairy and meat. Students received a packet of various product samples from Cornucopia, brochures, and coupons to take home.
John Deere - A John Deere representative shared a PowerPoint on the history of the John Deere company and shared various career opportunities in the company. Students were provided with the materials that listed job details and had an interactive Q&A session.
2024 Camp
Facilitator - Chrissy Russell, Monmouth Roseville High School Agriculture Instructor
[Day 1]
Speakers
- Pilot Knob Farm https://pilotknob.farm/
- University of Illinois Extension 4-H
[Day 2]
Field Trips
- Byers Ron & Dan Forage Harvesting (Corn Silage, Meat Packing)
- Farmers Grain https://www.fgcroseville.com/
- Early Bird Nutrition & Agronomy https://earlybirdgoodfield.com/
- Roseville Veterinary Service http://www.rosevilleveterinaryservice.com/
[Day 3]
Speakers
- Bee Keeping - Scott Carnes
- Ag Reporter and Dairy Farm - Kailey Foster
[Day 4]
Field Trips
- Russell Farm - Livestock field experience
[Day 5]
Ag Olympics
- Ag Jeopardy
- Games (Bucket race, tug of war, wheel barrel race, egg toss, hey obstacle race)
- Certificate & Award Ceremony
Learning Outcomes
Higher interest in pursuing a career in agriculture.
Gained skills and knowledge about sustainability in agriculture.
Higher interest in starting a garden at home.
Higher interest in participating in agriculture youth camps in the future.
Project Outcomes
Trillium Dell Farm, Cornucopia Natural Market, Nayborhood Farm, Spurgeon Garden, and Luck-E Angus hosted a youth tour for the first time through this project. They expressed they would like to continue being involved in educating youth about sustainable agriculture. The guest speakers (University of Illinois 4-H presenter, beekeeper, Ag reporter, Pilot Knob Farm founder, Dan Byers Farm owners), as well as the field trip hosts (Farmer Grain, Early Bird, and the vet clinic), learned about the youth ag camp and would like to continue to partner up in the future camps.
Students who participated in this agriculture youth camp were from age 9 to 12.
The pre and post-survey we conducted demonstrated the impact of this camp on students' perspectives in agriculture.
Students who have a garden at home were 7 of 13. In the post-survey, the 6 who currently do not have a garden at home answered that they would now like to start one at home.
There were 5 students who answered that they were interested in pursuing a career in agriculture. In the post-survey, 3 more students answered that they are now interested in pursuing a career in agriculture.
10 out of 13 students answered in their post-survey that they want to come back to the agriculture camp next year.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to educate our youth to visit local gardens, orchards, and farms. We were able to offer this full two-days quality camp for free to many youths who are underserved and are not able to afford youth camps that are normally pricy.
This camp encouraged our youth to grow an interest in sustainable farming as well as an appreciation of farmers and local markets.
Most importantly, during the last hour of the camp, there were three students who expressed that they now have an interest in pursuing a career in agriculture.
This camp surely is a great advocate for inspiring a new generation of farmers, ranchers, and consumers.