My idea for Oregon is to farm AT school. Few of us live on farms or even have a few chickens in the back yard. Many schools have extensive grounds in grass and ornamental shrubs and trees. Some of this area could be used for productive small scale farming. Harvest could be sold to the school food service to fund the activity sustainably. This would be real volume production rather than a demonstration.
The school farm could be as simple as a row of potatoes for first graders to dig when they start school in the fall and a row of something for each grade. Cyclone fence makes an excellent bean trellis.
Modern farming techniques such as plastic mulch, drip tape, and small irrigation timers would allow many crops to grow with little maintenance over the summer.
Some thought should be given to crop selection. Watermelons, for instance, wouldn’t have much of a chance in my old neighborhood. Squash on the other hand would grow untouched. Squashes and root crops such as rutabagas or parsnips may be rare in the home diet but readily eaten when grown and harvested by the student. Peas planted early might be harvested before school is over in the spring. When I mentioned tree crops such as apples and walnuts to a teacher I know, she had one word: ammo. This might be a drawback.
The school farm can be a starting point for classroom activity from writing to science. The school farm will not appeal to every student, but my experience is that some students will develop real interest in one aspect or another. A good sized greenhouse is a relatively inexpensive structure and a wonderful place on cold sunny winter days.
In an ideal situation each student would have rubber boots to wear if the ground is wet. Funding may be necessary for this. The school custodian should be enlisted right from the start.
Leaves and grass clippings should be composted for use as soil amendment. Food waste should also be composted if possible. The **** population can be used to feed a poultry flock or fish farm.
Funding, (seed money?), should cover enough tools to get many hands on projects. The farm could be an optional recess activity, a class activity, or something to do after school. I feel that a key to success is to have the volume and quality to eventually sell to the food service to cover a substantial portion of the cost. I think that there would be a dietary benefit to having fresh food with a connection to the students.
Our model of universal education developed when almost everyone was connected to farming in one way or another. Farming education would have been redundant then. Today a school farm serves an educational as well as activity and dietary health benefit. Mike Hessel