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Montezuma School to Farm Project

Mancos, Colorado, United States • 9 Employees
Farming

OUR MISSION The Montezuma School to Farm Project unites our local agricultural heritage with our growing future by engaging students at the crossroads of sustainable agriculture, resource conservation, health, and economics through educational experiences in outdoor garden classes, on field trips, though youth farmers markets, and in summer farm camp. HOW WE STARTED Since 2009, the Montezuma School to Farm Project (MSTFP), a program of the Mancos Conservation District in southwestern Colorado, has focused on providing integrated, hands-on, school garden classes in Montezuma County. It began with a farm field trip for 40 Mancos students initiated by an AmeriCorps member in 2009. In the six years since those barn doors first opened to local kids, the program has grown to incorporate four school garden programs, professional School Garden Coordinators, expanded farm field trips summer farm camps, a 2 acre School Production Area, and a cutting edge curriculum for more than 1600 students on a weekly basis. WHAT WE DO The school garden classrooms provide accessible living laboratories where diet/nutrition, active lifestyle, water and soil conservation, and core curriculum lessons intersect. Whether it's writing a poem about a plant's life cycle, actively learning the science behind seed germination studying the history of drought in the Southwest, cooking with fresh vegetables, or translating seed packet instructions into Spanish or Navajo, the garden is easily woven into every subject. Classes are an integral part of the school day so that learning in the school garden coincides with important science and math core lessons. Students integrate their learning in a meaningful way because they are an active participant in their learning experiences. HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2016 -Kemper students plant White House Kitchen Garden, then return for harvest and meal -Mesa Elementary School garden installation -Region's first FarmCorps -and more!