Back in 2013, our first blog post dedicated to Common Ground (meaning a teacher and class integrating Commons resources or programs into their existing curriculum) featured Mr. Singaravelu working with his history students to construct terraced gardens. You can reminisce by clicking the link to the blog post here.
Fast forward four years, and you have Mr. S. back out behind the high tunnel and Micro-Farm with his intrepid fifth grade history students to reclaim those same terraced gardens so that they can be planted with cover crop for the fall/winter season, and then be ready for new seeds and plants in the spring. The class worked diligently to remove weeds and some very potent poke berries that turned their gloves bright purple. With the help of Lisa Barker, our new Food and Farm Coordinator, the class will consider which crops they want to plant in the spring. In the meantime, the sixth grade history students were more than happy to use the removed poke berries to create their own natural pigment for some trial “cave paintings”.