It is with great excitement Organo Et School invited young children to the “Be A Farmer” program. This program is designed to give participants a hands-on learning experience that will take children through an entire crop cycle of 120 days, starting 4th July, 2021.
Finally, the day arrived, it was a bright sunny Sunday morning, the sun shone in the clear blue sky. Families started to trickle slowly into the farm and soon began to settle following required covid protocols. 24 children were directed to their respective farm patches. Each child carried their own gardening tools while OES has given a 48 sq feet farm patch, bio-fertilizer, seasonal seeds and saplings to work on.
After a brief orientation and introduction, the farm experts and facilitators showed children how the soil and seeds were treated and prepared before they were to be sowed.
The children were also told how plants needs to be nurtured and require a lot of attention and care. Putting on gardening gloves, soon children got into their farm patches to check how does the soil feel against their hands.
With the help of a spade the soil was loosened and dug 8–10 inches into the ground. Children were asked to use a rake to push the soil long, and create raised mounds and explained about how a vegetable gardens grow best when they’re planted in rows to have valleys in between them so there is enough space between the plants. Furrows were made for the seeds and children took seeds into their palm and scattered pinches of seed as evenly as possible. Finally, it was time to water the furrows to keep the soil surface moist but not dripping wet until the seeds sprout.
Although farming definitely is lot of work, doing it together as a family made it fun. It was indeed a great time to have conversations. Some parents were requested to pitch in and help the younger children, while parents of the older children relaxed in the company of books. The classical music in the background added to the entire setup with its calming effect.
In the coming weeks this group of children and their families will witness what it takes to grow a seed to harvesting their veggies. Growing food is all about patience ... and it's always worth the wait!
Here are some more photos from last Sunday:
We recognize that for any positive impact to be sustainable, it has to be long-term and inter-generational. Organo Et School strives to create an apt learning environment that will support and empower families as well as individuals to embrace sustainable living mindsets and habits.
Organo Et School is a learning initiative set up by Organo in 2017 and has been facilitating fields visits and workshops for Schools and Interest Groups. Organo Et School has had over 25+ schools, 6000+ students and 2500+ adults participate over the last 4 years.
We believe in connecting children & adults with nature. Connecting children with the natural world at a young age is the first step in creating responsible stewards of our collective future.
If you or your children are interested in future Be a Farmer programs, please connect to us at oes@organo.co.in and by phone 9154100775 today! You can also click here to express your interest. We will keep you posted on our future farm cycles.
