Planting Seeds of Change: The Farm at Satchel Ford

by Chris Wormley, Columbia Green Board Member

A few weeks ago, when planting broccoli seedlings with a first grade class, a boy in the back row of the outdoor classroom raised his hand and asked “What is the point of being out here?” The rest of the class laughed nervously, used to these questions from their peer. It was obvious that he did not want to be there. It was obvious that he had no desire to learn about seedlings and planting them. It was obvious that he was going to be the reason why we have an outdoor space to learn about the outdoors, growing plants, and playing in the soil. 

The Farm at Satchel Ford started with a parent who wanted to grow a better school with academic opportunities outside of a traditional classroom. By 2018, a grant was written for eight raised garden galvanized tanks for the school. Chickens soon followed. 

We all know what happened soon after. The Covid-19 pandemic suspended in-school learning in 2020 and half of 2021, and plans for a the garden and a curriculum around the first growing year faded away.

However, in 2022, the school took off, and so did the concept of the Farm at Satchel Ford. From eight raised beds, we expanded to 16 raised beds, a blackberry patch, an outdoor classroom, indoor hydroponics, and a chicken coop. In fact, Columbia Green supported the Farm by approving a grant in 2023 for plants, seeds, and soil. The funds went directly to the Farm and directly to the students for farm activities. Today, The Farm at Satchel Ford is becoming a place of fun, learning, and hands-on activities, supporting traditional classroom curriculum with signature activities for each grade level.

In Kindergarten, the children learn about chicken and insect anatomy with flock and swarm drawing.

First Graders taste-test winter crops and broccoli and will soon begin doing tree walks.

Second graders harvest rogue beans.

Third graders plant and harvest sweet potatoes and assist with chicken incubation.

The Farm curriculum for fourth graders is in development, while fifth graders practic with hydroponics and summer planting. 

The above describes what the adults in the room have created, but what does it look like from a child’s eye? 

It is the first day of school at Satchel Ford and coming down the hall is a man with an arm full of veggies and a brow full of sweat. For many kids, he is “the garden person” who gives them high-fives. For other kids, he is the person who shows them the chickens. For teachers, he is the parent that takes the students to the outdoor classroom and reinforces state standards.  

The students and teachers get to play in the dirt, look at compost, plant, harvest, eat school-grown food, see bugs, collect chicken eggs, laugh, get grossed out, spend time outside, learn about growing plants, complete hands-on activities, observe life cycles, color anatomy pages, learn about history, look at adaptations, beam smiles, work with teams, share stories, take pictures, make memories, and most of all, have fun.

Every year we get to see the students’ change in perspective. They usually go from “why are we here” to “I want to go to the garden.” My student in the first grade from earlier in this article did not want to be in the garden. By the end of the school year, his teacher said, “He has changed his entire behavior; he has to earn the time to go check on his plant by doing classwork.  Two weeks of watching his broccoli plant grow has turned into positive classroom behavior and an effort to learn.” 

The Satchel Ford Farm is about more than growing plants; it is about growing people.