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entonville Seventh-day Adventist School (BSAS) has been dreaming of an Agricultural (Ag) Program for our school. We wanted to use agriculture as a way to not only teach students but engage our community in outreach projects.
Our first year, 2022, found us volunteering at our local Helping Hands Community Garden. Students from grades 1-8 would go twice a month to work at many different chores from weeding, identifying, planting, and harvesting. That same year, in the spring, we put up a pop-up greenhouse that could fit two tables. We started growing seedlings for the community garden so that they could save money, and we could have our students learning at the same time. That first year, we grew 300 or so seedlings and donated all of them.
Our second year saw many new additions to our program. The first was the finding of the Acquainting Agriculture curriculum. We purchased Cycle A for our whole school. From PreK3-Grade 8, we started having regular, weekly Ag classes following the lessons. We were able to adapt the lessons to work with all age groups and keep students engaged. We also were able to purchase a REAL greenhouse to use as our outdoor classroom, during the summer of 2023. It is a 12’ x 25’ hoop greenhouse that we use not only for a classroom but as space to learn mixing soil amenities, planting seedlings, transplanting, and daily care of our young plants. Students really enjoyed the wide variety of lessons, and learning about worms and composting was a favorite. We were able to use the saving seeds lesson to have students collect a variety of seeds to use the next year.
This year, we are piloting Cycle B of the Acquainting Agriculture curriculum with all of our students. Journaling was added for Grades 1-8, and it has been very successful! Students use their journals, weekly, to write a verse and document what the topic is. These journals have been a great resource that students look back on to review previous lessons and activities. We really appreciate the weekly “Jesus factor” that is in each lesson. The verse from each lesson brings home the fact that God loves us and loves nature. Students learn how to relate to the natural world around them.
We have had several community projects that have emerged from our learning experiences. We now grow seedlings for many different community groups. Groups give us their wish lists of seedlings and we provide them by the date requested. We are using produce from our own garden beds to supplement our daily hot lunch program at the school. This last fall, we sold chrysanthemums, grown by our students, to create income for the Ag program. Currently, we are making more raised growing beds on campus to increase our personal food production. All of these projects involve all grade levels. Students are learning life lessons not only about plants but about their Heavenly Father.
This spring, BSAS is partnering with our Bentonville SDA Church to host a “Gardening Weekend.” Our goal is to launch an outreach event for the community. There will be tents on the front lawn that will house a wide variety of educational gardening topics. We will be giving away seedlings that our students have grown, as well as registering guests for different classes such as canning, raising herbs, seed saving, organic gardening, just to name a few. We want to be known in our community as the school where God is in our Garden.
From the Ground, Up!
Renee Otts
Jan Huff
