Fremont students learn about farming, help feed community
Sixth graders spent time recently harvesting vegetables, shoveling mulch, removing seeds from annual flowers, and planting garlic as part of a Fremont Middle School personalized learning project tied into their exploration of the agricultural revolution.
The Mundelein school students had an impact on the Fremont Township garden by helping with fall garden preparations and designing beneficial bug habitats to attract insects such as ladybugs, lacewings, and bumblebees that support their organic gardening techniques.
Part of the township landscape offers a fruit and vegetable garden intermixed with sunflowers, zinnias, alyssum and other native flowers that function as a food source for bees, but also attract predatory insects that keep garden pests at bay. An additional 1ΒΌ acres are in the process of being converted to native prairie and wetland plants that will provide a habitat for beneficial insects, help with on-site stormwater management and reduce maintenance costs associated with mowing grass.
"The garden provides tomatoes, onions, zucchini, raspberries and more to our low-income residents. We provide over 800 individuals with nutritious food so they can spend their money on other necessities," Township Supervisor Diana O'Kelly said.
The garden is sustained by volunteers.
"In the short time the Fremont Middle School students were here they accomplished everything that would have taken me hours of time to do," said volunteer Alicia Dodd, who oversees the garden project.
Interested volunteers can reach out to Dodd at adodd67@comcast.net.
Not only are sixth graders learning about their community firsthand, they are making the sustainable outdoor education classroom a service project.
Students bring in pine cones, sticks and bamboo as housing structures for insects to live in and survive. They are creating handouts, a website, and an interactive map of the garden so visitors are informed of the fruits, vegetables and flowers growing there. In the fall and spring, they will plant and harvest items in the garden.
"Students really felt like they are making a difference by helping others in the community through this garden project," teacher Emily Loerakker said. "In addition, the project exposes students to the farming they see daily on their bus rides to and from school. Many students have never seen how Brussels sprouts grow or how to tell if a vegetable or fruit is ripe enough to pick."