Gladden students planting to grow future

Local News

Related Photos

Gladden Middle students Hunter Titus and Victoria Lopez will speak with state Superintendent John Barge this Monday.

Discussion

October 14, 2012

Gladden students planting to grow future

By Christopher Smith christophersmith@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Sun Oct 14, 2012, 09:03 AM EDT

Eighth-grader Hunter Titus has a “great idea” for you.

You can grow your own food. You don’t need to buy it.

Titus and fellow eighth-grader Victoria Lopez, both members of Gladden Middle School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter, will take their idea to the state Department of Education on Monday.

Agriculture teacher Sarah Duckworth, who oversees Gladden’s FFA, picked Lopez and Titus to present because of their work on the school’s greenhouse. Lopez said she is “very excited” to talk with state Superintendent John Barge.

“I want to tell him how we grow the crops in Murray County,” said Lopez. “To teach him the responsibility and organization involved in agriculture.”

Titus agrees.

“We’re going to tell the superintendent that we’re feeding him, too,” Titus said. “Most of the food stays in Murray County, but some goes to Dalton and areas around it. Agriculture helps all of Georgia. We’re working to grow the county.”

Agriculture could help the “bad economy,” said Duckworth, who hopes officials will take part in a mock farmer’s market the students will run with their presentation.

“We want the superintendent to remember what it looks like to see locally grown food in a market,” said Duckworth. “With unemployment still high, we want to show that our state is still growing. I want people to realize what a tremendous impact agriculture has on our community. If carpet came and went tomorrow, we’d survive on agriculture.”

But Duckworth doesn’t believe agriculture’s benefits are exclusive to the state or local economy.

“Individuals can take a 4 foot by 8 foot piece of land and plant 600 seeds,” said Duckworth. “If you produce 100 heads of cabbage from that — which sells for $3 a head at stores — you’d make $300. This can be done with 15 minutes a day over 40 days. If you can manage that it can add up.”

Location isn’t an issue either, said Duckworth.

“People in New York, where the infrastructure is building up instead of out, put gardens on their ceilings,” said Duckworth. “If it was hard, they wouldn’t do it. If it was hard, I wouldn’t teach it to students with short attention spans.”

Duckworth said to build a greenhouse you need raised beds of dirt, recycled tires and a “heated grow bed.” To heat their greenhouse, Lopez and Titus use a water heater.

“Working in the greenhouse is incredible,” said Lopez. “We work on it a lot. We chart it in columns and boxes and ask ‘What should we grow here?’ depending on the warm and cold seasons and the type of soil we’ll use. Then we translate that into specific crops and start growing.”

Duckworth said Lopez and Titus learned through the school’s Farm to School Program, which “impressed” state Department of Education officials.

“Within the Farm to School Program, students learn to cultivate and grow food for themselves,” said Duckworth. “The greenhouse — which was built in 2011 and is undergoing its first full year of use — serves the cafeteria or (its product) is eaten by students in agriculture class.”

The greenhouse grows broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, lettuce, radishes, squash and turnips, depending on the season, said Duckworth.

“I don’t understand why more people don’t do this,” said Duckworth. “It’s healthier than fast-food, it saves money and it can even generate income.”

Lopez and Titus will talk about those benefits when they give their presentation, said Duckworth.

“I am still pretty shocked,” said Titus. “We’re going to tell them what we’re doing here in Murray — about how to farm, to grow, and plan — so it’s going to be pretty cool.”

Text Only

Local News

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Gladden students planting to grow future

Site Map

Contact Us