Sustainable Agriculture

This exciting class is designed to engage learners with content that will educate and empower participants to grow their own food. The flexible schedule allows learners to check the online classroom weekly, daily or whatever works best for their schedule. New content will be posted everyday over the duration of the class.  "Farmer Katie" will cover an array of topics that can be found in the learning goals. Educational content includes videos that have been recorded live the Growing Minds Non-Profit Educational Farm. Through the fun and engaging Flip (formerly Flipgrid) platform, students will interact with the teacher and other students. Video lessons filmed on the farm are typically about plants but there will be guest farm animal appearances as well. Guest animals include Princess Layla and her hen army, "Cheese and Quackers" - our friendly ducks and our Dwarf Nigerian Goats - Willy, Billy and Tina. Students are encouraged to conduct their own science experiment by sprouting their own seeds. They are encouraged to share the progress of their seedlings through pictures and comments. Through this interaction, students can "show off" their seedlings to Farmer Katie and she can answer any questions that they might have about their plants and the process. This optional side experiment leads to daily observations that further enhance the learning experience. Other interactive experiences in the self-paced class are digital scavenger hunts where students can share and find objects from the natural world and habitat in which they reside. Students can watch daily lessons and interact within the online classroom whenever it fits into their schedule. This course will cover not only the anatomy of plants but also sustainable techniques that can be used on gardens of any size. These principles of sustainable agriculture will add to the success of growing food in all spaces from one small raised bed to large market gardens. The information provided in this course will give students a deeper understanding of how plants work and how we can work with them to create sustainable and productive food production systems.