Using the EarthBox to Integrate Sustainable Agriculture and Service Learning into After School Progr

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Using the EarthBox to Integrate Sustainable
Agriculture and Service Learning into After
School Programming in Urban, Suburban, and Rural
Areas

• 21CCLC PA Advisory Board Committee Chair
• Molly Quinn Philbin
• [phone] ext 369
• molly.philbin_at_earthbox.com

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Presentation Goals

• Familiarize participants with the EarthBox
• Familiarize participants with the concept of
  sustainable agriculture and its challenges
• Familiarize participants with sound nutrition and
  its challenges
• Familiarize participants with EarthBox
  Service-learning Gardens that support sustainable
  agriculture, provide solutions for nutritional
  challenges
• Familiarize participants with the EarthBox
  Curriculum that teaches to the standards

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What is Service Learning?

• Through the performance of service in a
  program which includes preparation, supervision,
  and opportunities for reflection and evaluation,
  students learn about themselves and their
  connection to the world around them. Through
  this process students are able to attain specific
  academic goals and objectives

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Understanding Service Learning

• Service learning is a teaching methodology
  whereby students use and apply newly acquired
  academic knowledge to solve a real-life problem
  or community need.
• Service learning is more than just community
  service. It is a method of teaching and an
  experience for students to advance their skills
  and knowledge.

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The EarthBox A Garden Anywhere

• A scientifically engineered container garden
• Superior Crops
• No Green Thumbs Required
• Sets up in 10 minutes
• No weeding digging or hoeing
• Automatically feeds and waters your plants
• Naturally more productive
• Reusable for years
• Uses ordinary fertilizer and potting mix

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Key Components to the EarthBox

• The EarthBox gradient system uses 80 less water
  to grow 50 more produce with 50 less
  fertilizer in a container that prevents pollution
  and controls the environment to grow the
  healthiest produce without using herbicides or
  pesticides.
• The EarthBox grows produce anywhere there is a
  minimum of 5-6 hours of sunlight in classrooms,
  on pavement, on decks, in homes, on terraces and
  in schoolyards.

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Sustainable Agriculture

• Sustainability rests on the principle that we
  must meet the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs
• Responsible stewardship of both human and natural
  resources is of prime importance

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Some Challenges to Sustainable Agriculture

• Ignorance
• Topsoil depletion
• Groundwater contamination

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The EarthBox Solutionto the Challenges of
Sustainable Agriculture

• Re-usable potting mix
• Controlled environment that minimizes use of
  fertilizer and prevents seepage
• 80 less water usage

• Conservation

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Vegetables Provide Sound Nutrition
Food pyramid provided courtesy of USDA DHHS
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Challenges and Solutions to Providing Fresh
Vegetables for Sound Nutrition

• Challenges
• Education
• Accessibility

• Solutions
• EarthBox curriculum
• Hands-on learning
• Growing your own nutritional food in
• EarthBoxes

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School-based Model for EarthBox Service-learning
Gardens

• Teachers provide training preparation,
  supervision, and academic instruction
• The school provides support for the program
• Physical space
• Students
• EarthBox Kits
• Water Supply

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An EarthBox Service Learning Garden
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What is an EarthBox Service-learning Garden
Project?

• A 10-12 week spring-summer extracurricular
  program
• Each student is responsible for at least 1
  EarthBox
• Students grow, nurture, harvest, prepare and eat
  nutritional crops
• Students share nutritionally sound food with each
  other, their families, soup kitchens, and / or
  senior citizens

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What Do Students Learn?

• Science
• Math
• Reading
• Consumer Science
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Nutrition
• Planning
• Time Management

• Academic Standards
• Civic Responsibility
• Workforce Development Skills

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The EarthBox Curriculum PA Academic Standards
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EarthBox Service Learning Garden Implementation

• Select a site for your garden
• Select students for the project
• Order EarthBox Kits and supplies
• Planning and Preparation Meetings to
• Select Plant seedlings and/or seeds
• Create a Plant Nurturing Schedule
• Create a Plant harvesting Schedule

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Selecting a Site for Your Garden

• Needs
• Nearby water source
• Minimum of 5-6 hours of sunlight daily
• Sufficient space for 20 EarthBoxes
• (see diagram on next slide)

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Sample Layout of an EarthBox Service-learning
Garden

• 20 EarthBoxes (4 rows of 5)
• 4 ft between each row
• 1 ft between the ends of each EarthBox
• 2 ft around the perimeter of the 20 EarthBox plot

21 ft
20½ ft
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Selecting Students for the Project

• Hands-on learning attracts and supports all types
  of students

• Academically proficient students apply academic
  skills to project-based performance
• Students with ADD or disabilities work and learn
  equally well with the EarthBox

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Ordering Supplies for the Project

• EarthBox kits include
• Potting mix
• Fertilizer
• Dolomite
• Instructional video
• Charts
• Poster
• Curriculum

• Other materials
• Scale
• Waterproof pens
• Labeling stakes
• Plant support stakes as needed

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Januarys Preparatory Meeting

• Review the EarthBox Instructional Video and Plant
  Selection Chart to become acquainted with the key
  components of the project
• Discuss the nutritional benefits of a given crop
  according to the Nutritional Guideline Booklet to
  inform seed selection
• Use the Germination to Harvest Chart to inform
  seed selection as it relates to the time-frame
  for the project
• Use critical thinking to discuss potential yields
  from each crop to satisfy the market needs and
  wants
• Schedule future sessions to learn to plant,
  nurture, and harvest crops grown in EarthBoxes

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Springs Plant/Seed Selection Meeting

• Review the information discussed at the winter
  meeting to help the students to choose the crops
  they want to grow based on
• Nutritional value
• Germination to harvest time
• Crop yield
• Market Demand

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Planting Preparation

• Purchase selected seeds or seedlings
• Review the plant-heat zone map to select a date
  to plant the seeds or seedlings
• Schedule a planting session
• Near or at the garden site
• With an available water supply
• Have a hose and watering cans on hand
• Be prepared to assign water duties for the season
• Hang the watering schedule at the site along with
  a sign-in and out sheet

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Learning to Nurture the Plants

• Visit the library, the Internet, or meet with a
  County Agricultural Extension Agent to
• Learn about the diseases and pests that plague
  selected crops
• Learn biological control agents to protect their
  crops without using pesticides or herbicides
• Learn how to trim and stake crops when necessary

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Schedule Responsibilities

• Students and teachers add new dates for new
  duties to the watering calendar and plan for
  transportation needs
• Trim and stake plants
• Monitor for pests or diseases

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Learning to Harvest and Distribute Crops

• Students
• Visit the library, the Internet, or meet with a
  County Agricultural Extension Agent to learn how
  and when to harvest their crops
• Add more frequent garden visits to harvest their
  crops considering transportation

• Discuss and select crop distribution methods
• Arrange for pick-up and/or delivery of their
  crops

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Reflection and Academic Standards

• Students can reflect upon
• the value of eating fresh produce with a
  standard-based lesson plan that addresses food
  quality and sound nutrition
• their experience in growing and sharing
  nutritional food with each other, their families
  and new found friends by writing a
  standards-based essay about their Service
  Learning Experience
• the concept of sustainable agriculture with a
  standards-based lesson plan that explains the
  scientific and technological contribution of the
  EarthBox

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Workforce Development Skills

• The EarthBox Service Learning Garden helps
  students develop generic workforce skills
  inherent in project-based learning that requires
  planning and commitment
• Specific horticultural and fiber and food systems
  skills that prepare them for their future in the
  work place.

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EARTHBOX COLLABORATORS

• Food and Agricultural Organization
• of the United Nations
• www.thegrowingconnection.org
• American Horticultural Society
• www.ahs.org
• Kids Growing Food
• www.cerp.cornell.edu/kgf
• Pathways to a Better Workforce
• www.foodsystemsconsortium.org/pathways

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EarthBox Ordering Information

• The EarthBox
• 1300 Meylert Avenue
• Scranton, PA 18509
• 1-800-821-8838
• Fax [phone]
• Mention Education Order Code
• M-EDU Service Learning
• www.earthbox.com