This year, Rosedale Middle School introduced a new way for their students to learn about agriculture. A class called “farm-to-table” allows students to not only observe but also do the work themselves.

Staff at Rosedale has maintained the agriculture farm for nearly five years. The purpose of the farm is for students to use the produce in their life skills class but this year the purpose means a lot more.

“I taught life skills last year and we do sowing and cooking and in that process, I am stuck on a budget, so I looked at this space and I thought ‘geez I really wish I could utilize this space to grow a lot of the foods that we could use from our garden’,” said Melissa Richert.

Students get to plant and harvest everything in the garden allowing them to see the entire process. For one student, Isabel Horaska, the class is an opportunity she is grateful for.

“I love to cook my own food and I like to know what is going into it so it was really an opportunity for me to learn so that if I ever wanted to grow something that I could. Being able to be out here and have the opportunity to be out here – we are very grateful for that because we get to be out here hands on,” said Horaska.