All Saints Episcopal School's Learning Farm Holds Spring Planting Day

Students at All Saints’ Episcopal School in Tyler sprang into action last spring as the young, aspiring farmers took to the fields.

The school’s “learning farm” featured 20 plots with room for veggies, herbs and a flock of 16 chickens. Children in pre-K through fourth grade used the experience to get their hands dirty each day as they took care of the planting.

Each day in March began with instructions heard through the school’s daily announcements. Students listened intently as duties were doled out.

Young third grader Anya Kumar said she enjoyed feeding the chickens earthworms as her favorite chore. She marveled at how quick the chickens snatched the worms.

All Saints’ science specialist Anna Dickey uses hands-on learning to teach the students. She believes these activities allow for mixing fun with establishing work ethics. In other words, farm duties are no easy tasks.

Chef Michael Brady is director of food services at All Saints’. He oversees the operations of the garden. Kids get to experience the cyclical process of the farm, he said. Money goes back into the farm to pay for feed for animals, plants for seasonal planting, and so forth.

Students realize the full cycle of farming, Brady explained. They harvest the crops each quarter and sell their harvest to the chef in the school cafeteria, also known as the “Garden of Eat’n.”

The young entrepreneurs tried an experiment before Spring Break. Faux eggs were placed in the chicken coop to encourage production. To the students’ surprise, 48 real eggs were laid when they returned.

Parents were also delighted by a bonus of fresh eggs which were made available for purchase from their children through the carpool line.

(Special thanks is given to KLTV TV in Tyler and reporter Sariah Bonds for covering this story last year. Highlights of the story are revisited in this feature.)