Covering the Land of Lincoln

Harvest day for Rockford middle school’s student garden

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) – Local middle school students got the chance to take in the fruits, or in this case vegetables, of their labor.

Gardening is not usually taught in the classroom, but Flinn Middle School is changing that with a new project.

“Kids are pulling radishes and turns,” said Andrew Barelli, owner of Barelli Family Farms. “We are washing them up, getting them packed up. They’ll go to restaurants, locals, whoever needs food really.”

Flinn has teamed up with Barelli to give students the opportunity to learn agricultural skills.

“Farming is a dying, sort of, art. Food and nutrition have become sort of a segregated affair that most people don’t really part take in,” Barelli said. “So, engaging kids in things that are real and tangible as far as life skills.”

Students take time out of their classes to work together to plant crops and get the chance to participate in an activity they might not have the chance to anywhere else.

“It’s fun, it’s nice,” said students Luiza and Zahraa. “We get to get fresh air even though it’s cold, but it kind of reminders of my childhood because back before I moved in my backyard, I used to have a garden and we would like, we had tomatoes and it just reminded me of that.”

This is the first full year of the harvesting project, something that will carry on throughout the school year.

“This season will end up in November,” Barelli said. “We’ll have carrots still that we’re picking. We’ll plant garlic mid-November and then we will pick up in the spring with the same rotation of crops.”

Barelli hopes that this project is just the beginning.

“We’ve talked about it for years,” he said. “This is just a no brainer education program that every school should have.”

“It helps us work as a team and I feel like this really helps bring together everyone,” Luiza and Zahraa added.

Some of the produce will be sold to local restaurants while some students were able to bring some vegetables home.

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