Testimonials
Homeschooling Pilot Group in Texas
“To be able to grow vegetables with my children in the homeschool setting has been the biggest blessing of my life! Thanks to Acquainting Agriculture curriculum “Planting with Jesus”, I have a perfect, kid-friendly tool to guide me through the gardening process all year long!”
— Homeschool mom of two boys, ages 7 and 9
My third and fourth grade students at Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy, in Lynchburg, VA, are learning all about gardening this year. It all started when I attended an agricultural class taught by Angela (add other teachers here) during the NAD Teachers Convention in AZ this summer.
Since I have returned to teaching after being a stay-at-home mom, my gardening has been terrible. We moved to a location where our soil wasn't great, and my time was more limited, so my garden was hit or miss. As I listened to the presentation, I felt God prompting me, telling me that I needed to do this for my students. I told Him He knew I was a terrible gardener, this was a huge project and that I couldn't do it because I was already so busy.
But as I listened to Angela, and then another teacher who was the only teacher at her school, the wish kept growing that maybe I could do something small after all. The teacher of the one-teacher school was saying how it was the biggest blessing to her, that it was even relaxing, it had been reaching people spiritually, and she had her little garden committee of 4 people. Being the teacher of a one room school is the hardest and craziest job I can imagine, and I figured if she could do it and love doing it, then maybe it was possible to do. I loved the idea of growing this agricultural movement across all our Adventist schools.
Having the hoop houses sounded so amazing, but knowing how horrible my current garden skills are, I decided to start small, with raised beds. I knew it would be a little pricey, but that I would at least be starting with decent soil. I was able to find the top soil and compost for only about $3 per 2 cubic ft bag! This is where God is really showing up! My husband and I donated the boards for the beds and my school paid for the 48 square feet of soil.
The "Planting with Jesus" book has been so foolproof! I'm following it very closely and it is fantastic! It also helps having our What's App group to bounce ideas off and get encouragement. I was worried how I'd get the boards to the school, but God took care of that worry. I was worried I wouldn't find soil so late in the season, but I did, and at a good price! God has shown up again and again. My next worry is getting a decent hose and wand for a good price, but I'm sure God has this in His very capable hands too! We also need garden tools, and need to make hoops to place a cover over to protect our plants from frost. We might not get our seeds planted until the 1st 10 hour day in January, but it will happen in God's perfect timing. I am already finding peace and joy in my heart during this project, because I am trusting God to lead it every step of the way. He is THE master gardener and He obviously wants us to learn how to do this.
The students are really enjoying this and the conversations are great and funny! They are learning a lot, moving their bodies, and doing something important and worthwhile. They are keeping me accountable and continue to move this project forward! I am so grateful to the team with the vision and hard work to put this together in such a remarkable way. It is obvious that God put it on their hearts and He is blessing their efforts. God put Adam and Eve in a perfect home in the new world He had created, a garden home, and I know He will help us take care of our garden.
k-10 School in Michigan
“Every time I go into the hoop house, it’s a Garden of Eden in the middle of winter”
— 5-8 Teacher, Principal
“All In” with Agriculture - A School Testimonial
Bentonville Adventist Elementary School has had an interest in offering agriculture to our students for some time. Our grade 1-4 students have been working once a week in the nearby Community Garden but we wanted to expand to doing more. More education and more outreach.
Starting small…
We contacted the Master Gardener at the Community Garden and offered to grow and donate seedlings for them to plant that fall. She graciously agreed and even provided us with soil and amenities, pots and seeds. We borrowed a 6x8ft.’Pop-up’ greenhouse and we were off and running!
More students got involved with mixing soil, filling pots, planting, and watering. We started with four to five different varieties of fall vegetables and were successful in providing over 200 fall seedlings for their garden.
Incredible discoveries…
That spring our ‘agriculture excitement’ continued and we broadened our dreams. The Lord led us to an Adventist contact in Oklahoma, who works with schools to help them make Greenhouses a reality. Our school was able to invest in a 12x26 ‘real live’ greenhouse and they assembled it for us! We had our outdoor classroom!
Then we discovered that the Adventist Agricultural Association had developed a brand new agriculture curriculum called Acquainting Agriculture! We invested in Year ‘A’ titled “Planting with Jesus”. It turned out to be just what we needed! We took off with instruction for all grades preK-8 once a week for each class. Each lesson is arranged to assist with learning straight from Creation and our Creator. Subjects range from Seeds and Soil, to Harvest and Cooking from the garden. The students responded positively to the spiritual emphasis and loved getting their hands in the dirt! Our older students were learning to journal the verse of the week, the activities we did, and how it all ties together.
In one of the lessons, we learned how to save seeds from flowers, peppers, and green beans to practice planning ahead. Prov. 21:5 says “The plans of the diligent leads to plenty…..”
More answers to prayer…
God provided for other needs so we could raise spring seedlings for the Community Garden. We welcomed donations of gravel for our Greenhouse floor and shelving with grow lights to be able to plant early enough.
In the meantime we would find soil and amenities on clearance at our local stores and even found thirteen 2x4 grow boxes reduced to affordable. We had the 5-8 grade students assemble them learning some carpentry skills. Then grades 1-4 teamed up and planted herbs and radishes, lettuce and other microgreens.
Another thing God provided was seeds. We reached out to Baker Creek Seed company in Missouri and they help schools with miscellaneous vegetable seed donations. We received a big box of vegetable seeds and also a big box of flower bulbs. It was such a generous donation.
Livin’ the Dream!
One of the lessons from the “Acquainting Agriculture Curriculum” taught us about seedling germination and transplanting. The students had spent time mixing our soil amenities, filled small pots, and put them into larger trays. We planted our seeds very carefully (we thought), putting 2-3 seeds per pot in case of low germination rates.The seeded trays were labeled with the vegetable and the student who planted the tray. To conserve early heating of the greenhouse we put the shelves in the back corner of the school gym with the grow lights on. On warm sunny days the shelves could be rolled out on the back patio.
A watering schedule was drawn up and the students took turns watering, weeding, and pushing the shelves out in the sun. The seedlings grew and then we found something quite unexpected! For some reason, a few seeded pots ended up with “LOTS” of seedlings coming up. Apparently some of the tiny seeds were hard for little fingers to handle or they just got bored with the detailed work! We were glad for the tags and knew who to give some one-on-one instruction to!
The extra seedlings were transplanted into separate pots to thrive and grow. What a blessing to watch the energy and careful work of the students in scooping up the little seedlings and gently placing them in the soil, and watering them in.
It’s all about sharing…
We studied a lesson about Marketing and using our ‘produce’. It is alot of work but going through the process was very educational for the students and actually made some funds for our program needs. The verse for this lesson came from Proverbs 12:11. ”Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.” The students decided that God has a humorous way to tell us how important our work in the garden is.
When our seedlings grew big enough, we donated to the Community Garden what they needed and then advertised what we had left to the community. Another non-profit who makes meals for the community contacted us. We donated what seedlings they needed, then students planted some in our own schoolyard garden. Our greenhouse was empty and by then school was out for the summer.
When school started back in the fall we had extra blessings waiting! We have had a long growing season this year and our small garden in the back of the school was ripe for harvesting! We had lovely watermelons, ripe tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, radishes and lettuce. We donated to the “garden share” program at the church and the “Hot Lunch” program at the school. One of our teachers took home an abundance of tomatoes and made us homemade spaghetti sauce to use for hot lunch! When a student wasn't very keen on eating their salad etc., we would remind them that this was what they grew! That usually changed their mindset.
Expanding on…
This School year we are partnering with the Adventist Agriculture Association in piloting year ‘B’ curriculum that is currently being developed. It is titled “God in the Garden”. The lessons are similar but they connect the student to God in nature as the central theme in a new and fresh variety of ways.This is a definite win/win for our beginning agriculture program!
For a fundraiser each year we have been selling Chrysanthemums we purchased. This year we had the idea to raise them ourselves and sell them. The students learned all about this showy bush of flowers and that in order to grow them, you plant “plugs” (small seedlings) not seeds. Another thing is that they have to be watered daily… even on weekends! We obtained the proper soil amenities, fertilizer, pots and “plugs” and planted three plugs of different colors per pot. They did quite well and we learned alot for next time… Maybe!
Another idea for this year was to expand our raised bed space. We found around 300 inexpensive cement blocks and took the older students on a ‘field trip’ to load them up and bring them to the school. They measured, figured how to, and placed the blocks to make three nice sized raised beds. They placed ground cloth in the bottom of each bed and threw in leaves, branches, and compost to help fill the space. Topsoil coming soon! Of course there was a reward for the students for all that labor!
Second semester, in the spring, we have an idea to have an educational “Garden Day” for the community as an outreach event. We are planning this day to correspond with our church evangelistic meetings. We are planning to have several canopy tents with a variety of Instructional topics such as; raising herbs, herbal teas, saving seeds, pollinators, soils, how to plant seedlings, making a salsa garden, to name a few. We want to be known in the community as the school where ‘God is in our garden’!
Focusing Forward…
Bentonville Adventist Elementary School is happy to share, advise, and offer help to any school that wants to start an agriculture program. In these times we need to teach our students so much more about nature and the God who created it! We highly recommend that you reach out to Acquainting Agriculture and look at the new curriculum! It is a game changer for us.The lessons are complete, user friendly and they save alot of prep time! They can be used as written or adjusted to meet your needs.
