On 13 February 2022, all Be a Farmer program kids arrived at 8:30am for session-2 of Spring crop cycle. It was nice at the OES children’s farm, with a cool winter breeze and incoming summer sun, making it warm as well.
They were all excited to check out their respective farm patches where they had sown seeds last Sunday. During session-2, they learnt to weed out the unwanted plants and extra saplings from the patch. So that young plants and new germinating seeds get enough nutrition, space to spread their roots and enough sunlight to grow well.
The topic for the day was Soil care, which our farm coach Shilpa covered in detail, with all of them. She explained soil composition and soil fertility along with factors affecting soil fertility. She also briefed them about how to take diligent care of soil to maintain its fertility without depleting it with each crop cycle. Eventually she gave them handouts. This was a soil related activity to do as homework. This handout can be downloaded as an E-book from: https://www.organoetschool.co.in/library.
New members of the spring batch who could not attend the first session, did sowing and seeding in their assigned farm patches. These patches have their name boards fixed for identification. Shilpa briefed them about row sowing and broadcasting methods of seeding. These first timers learnt transplanting by practicing sowing Tomatoes and Brinjals saplings, provided by OES. After sowing, watering properly is crucial. So, Shilpa demonstrated water sprinkling over sowed seeds. Also carefully watering freshly planted saplings is important. As, overwatering and pouring water forcefully can uproot these small plants.
Mulching was the last thing they needed to learn. They spread the rice straw on and around the seeds and saplings, respectively. This is done in a manner to allow the germinating seed and growing sapling to have space to grow upwards.
This brought session 2 to a close with kids washing up and loading their farming tools back in their cars.
We recognize that for any positive impact to be sustainable, it must be long-term and inter-generational. Organo Et School strives to create an apt learning environment that will support and empower families as well as individuals to embrace sustainable living mindsets and habits.
Organo Et School is a learning initiative set up by Organo in 2017 and has been facilitating field visits and workshops for Schools and Interest Groups. Organo Et School has had over 25+ schools, 6000+ students and 2500+ adults participate over the last 4 years.
We believe in connecting children & adults with nature. Connecting children with the natural world at a young age is the first step in creating responsible stewards for our collective future.
If you or your children are interested in future Be a Farmer programs, please contact us at oes@organo.co.in and by phone 9154100775 today! You can also click here to express your interest. We will keep you posted on our future farm cycles.
Follow OES on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/organo_et_school/?hl=en
Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVe5InTKtgyGsGgNVNZ5sOw
