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| Ranson Elementary set up Solar Water Pumo to plants a garden |
Kindergarten students at Ranson Elementary School planted vegetables in a garden on school property with a little help from Engineers Without Borders co-founder Roger Either and his“Lil Sprout” solar water pump.
“We’re going to plant lettuce. On Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday when you come here and look you’ll see little shoots coming out,” Either said to a group of students during the demonstration.
“I am going to make my garden so it faces south. The most sun will get on your garden as the sun goes from the east to west. We need water and we’re going to use the sun to make a pump (send) water and then we’re going to water each row,” Either said.
The children helped plant and water the new crop. “That’s what we’re trying to do and get the kids kind of excited about gardening and nutrition,” Shepherd University SNAP ED program Assistant Director Emma Barr said. She was on hand to help teach children about healthy eating choices.
After making the rows for planting in the large raised garden bed and planting the seeds, the
solar pump was set up.
“We are using solar to pump this water,” Either said.
“There’s no better way than having the kids involved from planting it to harvesting it, to eating it,”Teacher and school coordinator for wellness committee chair Ann Miller said.
It was Miller’s idea to bring the program into the school. An area was selected and raised beds were installed. Now she says she has even bigger plans. “We’re going to expand the garden. This is permanent. We have two more rectangular gardens coming by spring and SNAP is offering to help us to purchase more,” Miller said.
The U.S. Department of Agricutlure, which funds part of Barr’s work, has information about benefits of better education on food choices. “They can do this at home. We’re trying to get the kids excited about gardening so then they go home and say ‘we tried a tomato at school today. Can we grow these at home?’ We (teach) nutrition and things with them as well using Shepherd University students,” Barr said.
“A lot of the parents I talked to didn’t know that you use SNAP dollars at farmer’s markets and you can actually double your SNAP dollars,” Barr said. “Growing your own food and being able to do that in your own apartment, eventually saving your seeds and just becoming self-sustaining,”Barr added as ad possible plan for families.
The garden will offer many benefits to not only students but also their families. “That’s our goal and it’s also our goal that in the summer, when we are doing this, we will actually be able to provide some fresh vegetables for our families to come in here, pick, and take home,” Miller said.
