How can a child know they want to be a farmer if they've never stepped foot on a farm? The answer lies in providing real-life experiences — planting, harvesting, cooking, and tasting the fruits of their labor. That's exactly what Earth Heart Growers (EHG) is doing for students across the Charleston, SC, area.
Founded in 2015 by Liz Ramirez, EHG is a hands-on educational program that connects students, educators, and communities to the land through gardening, cooking, sustainability, and garden-based teacher training. Its mission is simple yet powerful: to educate the next generation of local farmers, foodies, and chefs.
In the past decade, EHG has reached tens of
thousands of students, including Gabby Smith, now 18, who first visited the
farm at age eight. Today, she works as a chef for EHG and teaches the very
program that inspired her.
"We came out here to the farm in 2015, and we were walking in the fields and I fell in love with it," said Gabby. "To me this is like a full-circle moment being able to collaborate with Ms. Liz on my profession. I understand her mission, and I believe in it because I am her mission — I am a direct image of what she's trying to accomplish with EHG."
EHG's outdoor classrooms take place at Joseph
Fields Farm, a third-generation Gullah-Geechee owned and operated organic farm
on Johns Island, SC. There, students get their hands dirty, their questions
answered, and their hearts opened to new possibilities.
EHG offers several programs to students and teachers, including:
●
Growing Gardeners: A fully
integrated curriculum and programmatic resource for school-based gardens.
●
Farm to Table Field Trips:
Available to students in grades 7-12, the field trips feature a tour of the
farm, hands-on harvesting and cooking, mindfulness practices, building and
crafting.
●
Seeds of Growth Workshop and
Training: Educators learn how to start and maintain a school garden, organic
gardening basics, seasonal planting, and outdoor learning strategies.
●
Farm to Heart Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) program: Offered at local schools to students and their
families, the CSA features bi-weekly shares of farm-fresh, certified organic
produce delivered to the schools.
Teachers find that students enjoy the Farm to
Table Field trips and step up to every task asked of them. The students are
interested and engaged, and ask great questions.
"The classroom is a little bit of an artificial environment and we're not meant to be there all the time," said Jennifer Saunders, a high school teacher. "That to me is one of the most valuable things about these field trips — watching the students step up and have fun and learn. You see the best parts of them come out."
Learn more about Earth Heart Growers at earth-heart-growers.com.
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