New program cultivates kids’ gardening skills and ties to Stanislaus County agriculture

On a sweltering 99-degree day in early October, a group of students left Empire Elementary with dirty faces and a new mission. Tomorrow, and every school day after, the kids will return to tend to their newly planted crops, ensuring they thrive in the heat.

These students are a part of the new Junior Farmer program, which aims to teach them the fundamentals of gardening and their connection to agriculture in Stanislaus County — a region heavily influenced by the farming industry.

On Oct. 4, the students got hands-on experience with planting. They began by picking out slips of paper that named the vegetables they’d be growing: carrots, radishes, celery, lettuce, green onions, collard greens, spring mix and broccoli.

Most of the students had never heard of collard greens. Giselle Chavolla, a sixth-grader, picked out green onions. “It goes really good with anything,” she said.

The program is a spinoff of Junior Chef, which teaches students how to cook. The goal is for the crops grown in Junior Farmer to be harvested and eventually used in Junior Chef meals.

The first cohort of the program began Sept. 27, with classes divided across four schools in the Empire Union district: Empire, Stroud, Capistrano and Sipherd Elementary. The program is structured into four classes, each focusing on a different aspect of gardening.

The first lesson focuses on soil health, teaching students about its importance as the foundation for any successful garden. In the second class, the kids plant vegetables.

Class three dives deeper into plant health, guiding students on how to monitor their plants and what to do if they spot issues like wilted leaves. In the final class, students harvest their crops and meet a local farmer.

The program will run year-round, split into fall and spring cohorts that coincide with the growing seasons. The spring session will run from February through May, and the fall cohort lasts from September into December. There’s about 15 kids in the cohort.

While the program taps into Stanislaus County’s agricultural roots, Meriam Jacobs, education programs manager at East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District , acknowledges a disconnect many children — and even adults — have with food production.

“I know that we are in a very heavy ag industry here in Stanislaus County and the San Joaquin Valley. I even grew up here, but I felt like there was a disconnect to growing food,” said Jacobs.

She said she hopes the program will instill a love of agriculture in the kids, especially since many live in food deserts with limited access to fresh produce.

Armed with colorful shovels, the students gardening Oct. 4 partnered up to dig holes in grow bags and pull weeds from the school’s garden boxes. For the uninitiated, grow bags are, according to TheSpruce.com , “exactly what they sound like: large, fabric-like bags that can be filled with a growing medium and used to grow plants and vegetables. ... They’re flexible, making them easy to use and light enough to transport.”

Jacobs said the bags offer an affordable alternative for starting a garden at home. “We wanted to do things that they could see here and replicate at home,” she said.

While Jacobs watered the dried-out garden box, the students paused for a water break. Empire Elementary School Principal Claudia Camarena and school board members Loretta Stein and Carole Dovichi were also present to witness the students’ efforts.

Dirt flew into the air as the students planted their crops.

“It’s bad to water leaves in the summer because it burns the leaf,” student Dmitri Zamora said.

With the first planting session behind them, the next class will focus on monitoring the crops. Each student has a folder with a watering tracker, a ruler and an observation sheet to log the growth of the plants. They’re expected to water and measure their crops every day to ensure they thrive.

With temperatures having been still in the triple digits, Jacobs is taking additional precautions, such as setting up tents to shield the plants from the heat. She expressed concern about the plants’ success rates and their vulnerability to bugs, especially because they aren’t using any pesticides.

Still, she is hopeful that the students will have the chance to grow their own food and that this experience will encourage them to try gardening at home.

“It’s giving them the tools to be able to succeed in school and outside of school is really what we’re trying to do,” she said.

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