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Project Goal

My goal is to create a raised bed garden living lab where students can learn about and practice sustainably growing food.  

 

How Project Benefits Students

We will build eight 4ft x 8ft raised garden beds using rough cut cedar boards and fill them with a mixture of soil and compost. One bed for each period of the day, each bed has 32 squares for 32 students to plant in. These beds can last 10-15 years. The timeline would be to have them built and filled before Winter Break (Dec. 22, 2023) and begin planting immediately upon completion.

Most people have never eaten something they grew from a seed. I ask, why not? We are very disconnected from our food. We don’t know where it comes from and much of what we eat is processed beyond recognition. Maintaining a garden and understanding the life cycle of the foods they prepare will give culinary students a deeper connection to their craft. It will be a living lab, changing with the seasons, managed by students over 4 years as they move through the program. They grow, and they grow.

We will use publicly available resources from the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IAFS) to guide our planting choices, schedule, etc...

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ep450#SECTION_11

I have used that site to maintain my own garden for the last two years or so. I’m pretty good, far from an expert, but I can grow basil and peppers all day. I have been successful growing sweet potatoes, cow peas, lettuce, tomatoes, sugarcane, thyme, rosemary, and mint. I have a bunch of avocado trees I started from seed, as well as a mango and a papaya. I’ve only ever grown one good onion, though I’ve tried man times. I’ve never been successful with watermelon or cantaloupe – they always get worms. I’ve planted nasturtiums, marigolds, Zinnias, and tansy to help repel pests. I plant cow peas with sweet potatoes because they take up more nitrogen that the sweet potatoes don’t need.

I’m not trying to make it about me, I just want to convey that I have the knowledge and skills to make this a success. In my time working a garden, I have found that whether the plants flourish or die, the process is a powerful learning experience – every single time. I would like students to have this experience.

Growing food from a seed will give students a sense of ownership and pride that will inspire achievement academically and otherwise. Sustained discipline and the ability to delay gratification are two things I often hear teachers wish they saw see more of in students. These things are skills that need to be developed and these things are also vital to maintaining a garden. Students will be able to witness the plant life cycle they learned about in biology – from seed to flower, to fruit, and back to seed. Chemistry comes in for testing and amending the soil – PH levels, Nitrogen, phosphorus, and K weirdly representing potassium – all things they learn, but don’t get the chance to apply in a practical way. And of course, math is always there – how much fertilizer for how many plants? How many plants can we grow within our square footage? – and so on. The living lab garden will give students that crucial missing piece – applying new knowledge in a real, tangible way. This project has the potential to positively affect hundreds of students, in many ways, for many years to come.

It will support the following standards:
08.04 Demonstrate and utilize proper pest control procedures.
09.07 Practice environmentally sound procedures
09.09 Demonstrate efficient time and motion techniques.
09.10 Coordinate responsibilities with those of other workstations.
10.05 Identify herbs, spices...and their appropriate use in preparing food products that exhibit and enhance creativity, taste and appearance
12.01 List the essential nutrients and their functions.
13.01 Identify and distinguish ingredients of the five regions of the United States
13.03 Compare and contrast the relationship of history and culture in regional cooking.
13.04 Prepare and creatively present menus that reflect different cultures.
14.04 Demonstrate an understanding of entrepreneurship and the economic impact of food and hospitality enterprises on the industry
15.02 Identify and select basic food items according to quality standards.
15.05 Monitor inventory and par stock.
18.02 Examine management skills.  

 

Expected Outcome(s)

The project will immediately impact around 100 students and one teacher in the culinary program. The beds can easily last 10 years, impacting hundreds of students over time. There is also potential for other classes to use the garden (biology, chemistry, etc) impacting other teachers in a positive way. Also, the location of the garden is in the courtyard of the school where all students will see it and watch it grow throughout the year– benefiting the entire student body of 1500+.

I would like to add picnic tables to the area in the future and make it a nice area for students to use. I envision students enjoying the area, watching the plants grow throughout the year, hoping to get the opportunity to actually try the dishes created but their classmates with ingredients grown on campus.

To get more students involved more immediately, I will give them the opportunity to paint the fence pickets. It’s not a lot of space, but Blake is full of artists, and it would be great if every picket was painted by an individual student, each with a unique design. This is a sizeable project. Everyone will have to look at it, and being able to see their own work lets them know it’s a little bit theirs too.  

 

Detailed Cost Summary

The lumber and the nails will be to build the beds themselves. Each bed takes 6 8ft boards, plus one extra per bed for repairs/cold cover. 6x8=48 + 8= 56 boards.
Each bed needs 6 18" 4x4s. From each 8' 4x4 we get 5 18" pieces. 48/5=9.6. Can't buy 0.6 4x4s so we need ten.

Soil goes inside the beds. Each bed is 4'x8'x18". leaving a couple of inches at the top, we'll need about 1.3 cubic yards per bed. 1.3x8=10.4 total. We are asking or seven. We'll get 2 yards of mulch for free from the City of Tampa, and make up the difference with compost, etc.

Cedar fencing goes around the garden approximately 100ft needed. It comes in 2 packs of 8 foot sections - 16 feet per pack. 7x16=112.
The irrigation items are to build a drip system for efficiently water the plants only at the roots. This helps prevent overwatering and disease. The main kit has the tubing and some parts, the parts kit allow us to expand the system the the size of our garden. The auto watering timer allows us to set watering times during breaks, etc.
The shed is for the storage of tools and supplies. Shovels, fertilizer, gloves, pots, soil additives, etc. 

 

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