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.