PARKSVILLE, NY — On a breezy June morning, 16 first graders stepped off of their bus and into rows of vibrant growing vegetables. Justin and Justine Sutherland of Somewhere in Time Farm hosted the group field trip as part of the Catskill Edible Garden Project, a collaboration between Sullivan 180, Catskill Mountainkeeper and Cornell Cooperative Extension. 

The Catskill Edible Garden Project aims to create edible gardens as educational and gathering spaces at Sullivan County schools. Cooke Elementary School has had a courtyard school garden since 2013.

Students were guided along rows of tomatoes, squash, basil and eggplants, asking questions about the different colors of produce and insects they sighted. The field trip extension allows students to experience a working farm first-hand. Some students had visited a farm before, but for several, it was their first time.

“These plants start from a seed, and the seed goes into the soil,” Justine Sutherland explained.

A highlight was harvesting a long row of carrots, with students pulling them from the ground and placing them into crates. “That was fun!” exclaimed one student, leaving the high tunnel with dirt-covered hands.

Students then transplanted a variety of herbs, and the trip concluded with an uphill farm walk and resting on a grassy hill while Justin Sutherland read the book “The Vegetables We Eat” to them. 

“It is so valuable for our students to be able to see nature through hands-on experiences and get to see where our food comes from. They were able to make connections about what we have learned in the classroom, which is invaluable,” said Claire Burns, the classroom teacher. 

Students went home with some of their freshly picked carrots, herbs they potted themselves, and new knowledge about where their food comes from and how we connect to it. 

For more information on the Catskill Edible Garden Project, contact Eva Bednar, garden coordinator for Sullivan 180, at eva@sullivan180.org.