Dallas Students Prepare To Farm School Agriculture Plots
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Moss Haven Elementary School in Dallas is celebrating its history by unveiling a series of sub-irrigation systems that will form a new educational program about agriculture and the environment.
The school campus sits on land that used to be the Moss Ranch Farm. Friday the Moss Haven administrators, teachers, students and staff showed off 17 agriculture plots that will be 'assigned' to each classroom.
The program called Bring Back the Farm was funded with a grant.
"I think it is a good idea to let all the students know about plans and growth and more about life science," said Moss Haven student Brittany Hoag.
During Friday's pep rally all of the school's teachers simultaneous planted a single plant.
The U.S. Army Veteran who developed the irrigation system, Edgar Hercila, said the system would save about 90-percent of the water used in traditional farming methods.
Hercila was a civil affairs specialist in Iraq and helped rebuild schools, hospitals, clinics and orphanages. The projects were considered large-scale for the people of Iraq.
The Moss Haven Elementary School agricultural plots are 4' x 8' large and were built by creating a reservoir underground.
"What you do is you add water," Hercila explained, referring to a PVC pipe that extends above ground in each planter box. "Put your hose in here and basically you saturate your bottom layer of your soil."
During Friday's event the campus also remembered a 10-year-old student who died in November of 2011. Marcus Stiggers died following an asthma attack. His twin sister put an engraved rock, with his name on it, in the garden. It also included the word "Tank" which is the nickname Marcus was called by family and friends.
"It just feels good that my son did things that people appreciated," Marcus Stiggers Sr. said proudly. "He touched a lot of people and that's what really matters to me and that's what really counts."
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