Hydroponics-Based Sustainable Agriculture Vocational Training Opportunity for Students with Multiple Disabilities

While students are excited about growing their own food, and have seen and benefited from a successful model, our classroom experience has not yet been successful.  We have learned that life is fragile and ALL conditions have to be in balance in order for life to thrive.  Students are learning the process of trial and error and that we will continue to try.  (Many life parallels here for my students with multiple disabilities!)

Here is a narrative of our experience thus far:

Last spring, the week before spring break when I attended the Grower's Workshop at Crop King, I personally spoke to our district treasurer and superintendent together, prior to a board meeting.  I asked what needed to happen in order to make whatever adjustments may be necessary to accommodate electrical needs of the hydroponic equipment I would be acquiring the following week.  They assured me that once it was here, anything that needed to be adjusted would be done if I put in a work order.  With that in mind, I was proactive and inquired to Crop King about what kind of plugs / outlets and power supply would be necessary.  I passed that information along to our maintenance head, who said it wouldn't require anything special.  When I returned to school with the equipment, I invited the maintenance staff to come see what was needed.  They looked and said everything was standard.  I requested assistance / advice re: how to run the electricity (power strips, extension cords, etc).  The work load was backed up, and nothing was completed. 

8/2/23 - In preparation for the new school year, I set up the equipment and again requested maintenance to come advise how to run the power.  

8/9/23 - I received an email from the Business and Facilities Coordinator who said that my work request had been received but that if the work could not be completed in house with supplies already on hand, the project would not move forward.  I reminded them of the agreements that had been made in the spring, and of the contract in place. 

Late August, maintenance came in to look at how the electricity sources were configured and made a plan to run conduit above the space and drop down to where the units were set up - however the materials were not readily available.  In September, maintenance came in with pieces of materials they had removed from another building, and configured it above my units with a drop down box. I was told to run a power strip from the box to accommodate the plugs.  I personally purchased power strips, only to find that the orientation of the outlets would not accommodate the plugs and the number of outlets needed exceeded availability.  I again asked for purchasing advice, and was shown one that was suggested.  We then ordered that power strip that "should be right."  They arrived in October.

Late October through December: In the meantime, we started our lettuce and tomato seeds.  When the power situation was rectified, we moved our lettuce seedlings to the desktop units.  They failed to thrive and died.  We repeated the process twice.  Our tomato seeds never grew large enough to put in the BATO Bucket system.  The Vocational Agriculture teacher in our building gave us some of her lettuce seedlings that were ready to transplant.  They were sown in a different growing medium, which she said was worth trying to see if it was our medium or our systems that were not right.  These plants also died.  

It was discovered on 1/5/24 that the systems had mold growing in the water wells and tracks.  We have been in touch with Crop King since then to determine the best way to eradicate the mold and problem solve / correct the issues.  That communication is still in process.  If it wasn't for the support of Crop King, I wouldn't know how to problem solve what is happening.  They have sent me a video and we are in communication about what has happened and how to move forward.  We will likely need to replace tubing, but the equipment itself has been cleansed properly.  We also need to acquire additional seeds.  Once these things have happened, we will start over.  

From all of this, my students have learned that there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" and things often do not turn out as anticipated.  Nonetheless, they also are seeing perseverance and problem solving and I believe that this model will prove in the long run that continuing to try and taking risks is better than quitting and giving up - and my hope is that in the end when they are enjoying fresh produce with their families, we will be able to discuss the importance of tenacity.