‘Seeing it, tasting it, smelling it’: Boston Youth Farm Project has kids growing crops in classroom

BOSTON — Crops are usually harvested at a farm, or at least from a garden in the backyard.

Now they’re also being grown inside a classroom at the Blackstone Elementary School in the South End.

Third graders are growing microgreens like pea shoots and sunflowers.

They planted their seeds and then three weeks later, it was time to carefully trim the small plants.

The Boston Youth Farm Project is the creation of Oliver Homberg. He’s a Northeastern University graduate who built a successful microgreens company.

Now he’s turning his energy to growing curiosity in the minds of young science students.

“The Boston Youth Farm Project is all about empowering and raising awareness about really important topics, like where our food actually comes from, how can we nourish our bodies, and what’s the relationship between what we eat and the environment,” he said.

All the harvested microgreens are turned into a salad the students get to eat.

One student said eating something that she’s grown makes her happy.

Several students said they thought the salad tasted good.

In fact, enough students requested additional helpings that the serving bowl was empty.

It’s that kind of engagement that Homberg finds gratifying.

He believes an interactive experience like this program is more impactful because the students are “seeing it, tasting it, and smelling it.”

He hopes this exposure gets the students thinking about new issues and opportunities.

Although he expects few of the students to go into farming, he believes this approach to learning can be a catalyst to pursuing other careers in science.

Sophie Suter, the Blackstone’s science specialist for grades 3-5, likes the way this program complements her curriculum.

“I think this is a really cool opportunity for them to taste the things that they’re growing. In science, you can’t put things in your mouth. You can’t eat things. But this is really kind of fun.”

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