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| Student watch as Elwood prepares micro-greens for salad |
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| Students prepare salad with micro-greens garnish |
Baton Rouge, La. - Through the “Eradicating Food
Deserts Through School Gardens” USDA/NIFA grant, Southern University Ag Center’s
Extension Associate, Stephanie Elwood teaches weekly environmental stewardship
and empowerment classes at three local schools. The Food Deserts grant is an on-going
project at three local Baton Rouge schools: Scotlandville Pre-Engineering
Middle School, Scotlandville High, and Southern Laboratory School. More than 80
Baton Rouge youth are educated through this program. Each school has a garden
on its campus and the garden is the main focus of the lessons. In addition to
hands-on gardening outdoors, innovative growing techniques such as growing
micro-greens are being taught to the middle and high school students.
Participants at Southern Lab are highlighted with their work in growing micro-greens.
Growing
micro-greens is a technique becoming more and more popular in urban farming
that includes growing seeds in containers in small spaces and even indoors
where adequate light is available. This technique allows students to plant
flats or containers with the specific micro-green seeds and to actually consume
the micro-greens only two weeks after planting the seeds. Micro-greens are
popular in elegant restaurants. Teaching this skill to youth creates a possible
opportunity for them to utilize the skill in the future to create a small
micro-greens business and sell to local restaurants for garnish or to be put
into salads for flavor.
At Southern University Lab. School, Mrs.
Carter-Robinson’s 7th grade class has been growing sugar snap pea
shoots and a braising greens mix (mustard greens, red mustard, pak choi etc.). The
students started their micro-greens two weeks prior to the date they were actually
able to consume them in the classroom. They
made fresh salads out of cucumber and carrots and garnished the salads with
their elegant micro-greens. The cultivation of micro-greens teaches the
students an additional entrepreneurial skill, and that healthy foods can be
grown anywhere and in a quick and exciting way.
For more information, contact Program Coordinator
Tiffany Franklin at 225-771-2775 or tiffany_franklin@suagcenter.com
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Contact:
Bridget
Udoh
(225)
771-5714
bridget_udoh@suagcenter.com
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