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Project Goal

The goal of “Fork to Farm” is to improve the Martinez Middle School gardening program by providing students with the supplies, tools, and education necessary to build a student managed composting and indoor hydroponic lab.  

 

How Project Benefits Students

Today’s middle school aged students will likely become the leaders in a future world which will experience increasing food insecurity. The addition of a composting and indoor hydroponic lab will teach students sustainable agricultural skills they can nurture now and promote within their communities throughout their lives.

The “lab” will become an extension of the current agricultural and culinary classroom. The outdoor tumbling compost bins will allow students to conduct infinite scientific experiments on natural decomposition from temperature studies to nutrient input and output ratios to the composting rates of various organic materials. In addition to using the compost as a traditional soil amendment, students can create and trial various recipes of compost tea to feed the existing outdoor garden and the proposed new hydroponic indoor garden. The indoor hydroponic tower will offer students the opportunity to study full plant life cycles from germination to final seed harvest and cook with the vegetables and herbs in the culinary classroom.  

 

Expected Outcome(s)

Students in the agricultural and culinary programs will begin to recognize food insecurity as a rising global crisis and develop the skills and knowledge necessary to grow food from fork to farm. The compost tumblers and indoor hydroponic garden will be used by students in sixth through eighth grade. Students will manage, maintain, and conduct student led experiments utilizing both lab systems to further their understanding of the food production process.  

 

Detailed Cost Summary

$995 

 

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