The Future Farmers of America students at Cusick High School are helping to feed their fellow classmates.
“The kids are excited about having fresh lettuce in the salad bar,” said Agricultural Teacher Aubrey Markel.
Markel is in her first year of teaching at Cusick after teaching at another district for 17 years.
“I said, I gotta do something to get these kids engaged,” said Markel.
Her previous school had a large greenhouse that allowed students to get their hands dirty and learn how to grow their own food.
Cusick didn’t have a greenhouse but an answer came to Markel while watching television.
“We have a Fork Farms hydroponics system. I saw it on the news and said, ‘I want one of those.'” said Markel.
The district was able to buy the system and hands-on learning took root.
“We do daily monitoring of ph levels and water quality so that ties into science lessons,” said Markel.
Right now the students are able to grow 150 heads of lettuce for each four week growing cycle.
The two main varieties of lettuce that the students grow are romaine and green star.
“The kids are proud to harvest the lettuce,” said Markel.
Markel hopes the successful growing will lead to an expansion that will keep fresh lettuce in the salad bar all school year long.
