Seeds Feeds Apprentices lead Farm Club and Farm Camp for elementary and middle school youth.

Project Overview

YENC22-184
Project Type: Youth Educator
Funds awarded in 2022: $6,000.00
Projected End Date: 01/15/2024
Grant Recipient: SLP SEEDS (aka Seeds Feeds)
Region: North Central
State: Minnesota
Project Manager:
Julie Rappaport
Email
SLP SEEDS (aka Seeds Feeds)

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Education and Training: decision support system, mentoring, youth education
  • Production Systems: permaculture
  • Soil Management: earthworms, soil analysis
  • Sustainable Communities: employment opportunities, leadership development, quality of life, urban agriculture

    Abstract:

    Through schoolyard and community educational food bank gardens plus our new Indoor Growing project, apprentices provide K-12+ youth hands-on experiential skills from soil-to-table-and-back-again through best sustainable ag practices via a permaculture lens. 

    Apprentices will work alongside staff and program leaders with elementary and middle school students, sharing responsibility and learning leadership, and further exploring the many careers in sustainable ag, thereby growing their career-readiness and understanding of Local Food Systems.

    Food produced is used locally for underserved youth and residents, and as community building through meals and garden tours led by apprentices.

    Project objectives:

      1. Apprentices will support Farm Club and Farm Camp, learning how to teach sustainable ag practices, including what’s, why’s, when’s, where’s and how’s of growing, cooking and preserving foods both from soil and through hydroponics.
      2. Apprentices will be further introduced to career explorations with deeper understanding through the sharing of that knowledge.
      3. Apprentices will participate in a Farm Stand selling directly at a pay-what-you-can pricing.
      4. Apprentices will support our Mobile Tiny Farm programming brought to low-income housing, schools without gardens and public events.
      5. Apprentices will learn job-readiness skills, earning a living wage while they learn.
    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.