Like many other farmers, Centennial Arts Academy students were busy Thursday harvesting crops.
No, the elementary-aged students weren’t skipping class. Instead, their learning moved outdoors to the Gardens on Green at the Hall County schools’ central office on Green Street.
"Whoa, that’s a big one," said Daniel Cannon, a fifth grader as he harvested sweet potatoes. "It’s heavy."
Prior to harvesting, the students learned the proper planting and harvesting techniques from Kathy Lovett, a Hall County Master Gardener.
"Sweet potatoes are so easy to grow. One thing you want to always remember is to plant them up high," Lovett said to the group. "Does anyone have an idea why?"
"Because if it rains, they’ll have room to drain," said fifth-grader Alonzo Millsap.
"That’s right," Lovett told the students. "If you plant them low and the soil beneath them isn’t so good, they could flood when it rains. Also, planting them up high provides lots of soil for the sweet potatoes to grow."
The garden was developed by Lovett and her husband, Deputy Superintendent Lee Lovett, as a teaching tool for area students.
Centennial Arts Academy is one of several elementary schools in Hall County with a Junior Master Gardeners programs.
The goal of the program is to teach students about their environment and how to take care of it. Participants learn about things such as plant varieties, recycling and organic gardening.
While on site, Centennial students also helped plant daffodil bulbs in the flower garden.
Besides sweet potatoes, the garden contains other edibles such as tomatoes, peppers and broccoli.
When it is time to harvest the vegetables, the Master Gardeners like to call on their student counterparts.
"We like to let the children who helped harvest take some of the vegetables home with them," said Lovett.
"One of our goals is to teach them healthy eating habits, so we like to also give them nutrition information about the vegetables that they are taking. If the students aren’t available, then we get help from whatever adults we can find and take the vegetables to Good News at Noon."