It's harvest time for some young hydroponic farmers at an elementary school in Colorado
This week fifth and sixth grade students at a Colorado school are set to eat from a harvest of vegetables that they helped to grow, and they're learning lessons in the process.
The students at Cherrelyn Elementary School in Englewood planted a small scale hydroponic farm as part of their STEAM curriculum through a partnership with the group Fork Farms. It includes lettuce and other greens.
Kirk Benson, a teacher who specializes in STEAM, says it's been an eye-opening experience for the kids as they learn about how food grows. He said the students are learning "how important it is to make that food closer to home."
"We started off doing a little research about where food comes from and they were pretty surprised about how it's moving halfway across the globe for a lot of the things that we eat -- in the lunchroom or at home," Benson said.
Fork Farms is now working with the Cherrelyn Elementary students as they plan out what they want to plant for their next set of crops.
Fork Farms calls its indoor mobile hydroponic farm a "Flex Farm" and says it can "produce more than 25 pounds or more of fresh leafy greens in less than one month. Get more information at forkfarms.com.
