Local students learn where their food comes from

CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A little seed money from a Blue Cross Blue Shield grant has turned a corner of the West Clay Elementary campus into a flourishing garden.

From peas to tomatoes, students have a chance to learn more about where their food comes from.

“You know you’re teaching students how to grow their own food and that food doesn’t come from the grocery store, you know, it came from somewhere before that and then the students are a lot more likely to try some new foods, if you know they had a hand in growing it and then, you know, so they’ll try something they’ll be a little more adventurous and try new foods if they, they get to grow it,” said Brad Cox.

From pre-k to sixth grade, each student has a chance to work in the garden.

Each class has a task set for them from watering to weeding.

“One class may plant the squash and another class plant the peas and then it’s just everybody’s job after that too, to kind of take care of it and keep it going,” said Cox.

“We pick out the stuff that’s growing up like the leaves and stuff, and then when one’s grown up too much, we’ll dig it up and spread mulch everywhere,” said Noah High.

Principal Brad Cox said the garden gives students the opportunity to learn skills outside of the classroom.

“To start with, it was just science, hands-on stuff we do experiments, but it’s turned into let’s write about what we’ve done. Let’s list the steps, and then we turned into, you can use math, and now we’re talking about profit and loss and that kind of stuff, and so it has really evolved into a tool that we can use in a lot of different ways,” said Cox.

Sixth-grader Isaac Warren said his favorite part of the project is seeing their hard work pay off.

“When we pick it. That’s the most fun part about it. When you pick, it is. It just makes me feel good,” said Warren.

Cox said they are looking to possibly branch out and bring their produce to a farmers market to help make money to buy seeds and keep the garden going.