Final report for YENC22-178
Project Information
Capitalizing on an existing hydroponic production greenhouse and in-house culinary arts program, 4 instructors will receive tower gardens, and an additional 8 instructors will receive smaller hydroponic setups. All instructors will receive professional development on implementing an aeroponic/hydroponic program within their classrooms. Students will be introduced to potential careers in agriculture, as well as culinary arts, and restaurant management. It is anticipated this project will directly impact up to 240 students. Instructors will receive on-site instruction in a production greenhouse and both instructors and students will tour a production greenhouse and culinary arts program in fall 2022 and 2023.
Provide four instructors with a tower garden and an additional eight instructors with hydroponic deep water culture tubs for their classrooms.
Provide professional development to instructors on how to start, grow, and maintain their gardens and introduce aeroponics to students.
Provide students with field trip opportunities to a production greenhouse and culinary program to increase career awareness.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Making omelets in the Farm to Table rotations
Classroom Projects from some of the participating schools
The first phase of our outreach was a day of professional development Sydney Becker provided on the Greenbush Campus for 13 teachers from local districts. At this time 8 instructors received their hydroponic grow tubs, plants, and supplies. Instructors chose to go ahead and take her aeroponic grow tower, plants, and supplies. (Pictures above, link to presentation: SARES PD Day)
Over the course of the following month, Sydney Becker traveled to the 3 remaining districts to set up their aeroponic tower gardens and bring plants to stock the tower. We have continued to stay in touch with all the instructors as a resource, as well as to replace supplies, and provide new plants if needed.
We provided participating instructors three dates to choose when they attend a "Farm to Table Career Day" event. We had 3 classes on November 8th, 2022, 5 classes out on November 30th, 2022 and 4 classes out on January 17th, 2023. Students had a rotation in the greenhouse, where they learned about the hydroponic system, water quality, sustainable growing methods, related careers, a fun herb identification activity, and harvested lettuce. Students then took their lettuce to the next rotation which was with Dawn Jackson our Culinary Director. The students prepared salads from the heads of lettuce and added other vegetables, and made homemade dressings. Dawn also talked about ways to reduce food waste by making stocks and broths, donating scraps to local farmers livestock, and our composting program. The third rotation was making omelets with staff members Emily Roth and Jenn Roetman-Myhr, highlighting easy to grow produce from our greenhouse, and how you can locally source eggs and other ingredients. The last rotation was provided by our local K-State Research and Extension office. They gave a presentation on careers related to agriculture, and had some fun corresponding activities. In April of 2023 we provided a similar program for our local 3rd-5th grade special olympics participants. 30 students toured and enjoyed activities in the greenhouse, made salads and dressings, learned how being active can be fun, and got a lesson on nutrition and sugar intake from K-State Research and Extension. We received an abundance of positive feedback from participating students and instructors.
We also offered 2 virtual opportunities in the spring of 2023 to all of our schools, to "Interview a Professional". The guest speaker was Heather Horton, co-owner and manager of restaurant TOAST in Pittsburg, Kansas, who shared her background on how she got into the business, sourcing local ingredients (including Greenbush lettuce), entrepreneurship, and much more! Students had a variety of questions prepared, and Heather did an amazing job of elaborating on everything from the struggles of the pandemic, her favorite menu item, finding Kansas-grown and milled flour, starting your own business, and more.
We have continued to be a resource and provide support to participating schools, from troubleshooting issues, starting and delivering new plants, replacing supplies, and continuing to offer the opportunity for teachers to bring classes to Greenbush to tour the greenhouse and participate in related activities, and for teachers to visit for professional development. Three instructors from participating schools brought classes out in the spring of 2024 for sustainability education, hydroponic greenhouse tour, and related activities. An additional school has been using us a resource to start their own small hydroponic grow system to use with their students.
As our grant comes to a close, we still plan to remain a resource for these schools and help when and where we can. We fully restocked all supplies for the participating schools, and check in each semester to see where assistance is needed.
We have posted updates on grant related activities in our campus weekly "All-Call", our Greenbush Monthly Newsletter, and on our Greenbush Student Enrichment facebook page.
Learning Outcomes
Horticulture/ Gardening/ Sustainability
Careers
Science
Nutrition
I requested feedback from participating instructors, below are responses we received:
Overall the project was a success and met the goals originally set. Challenges we encountered included teachers that were invested in the project switching jobs or positions, and coordinating school schedules for the best participation.
Project Outcomes
Within Greenbush Student enrichment, the Farm to Table days were a large success and we have discussed offering them regularly to groups that are interested. There also seems to be an increase in support to explore and teach sustainable agriculture within the classes and schools that we worked with, now that they can see all of the benefits and standards based lessons that can go along with these concepts.