A Day With Young Stewards

The following is an example of RFOV’s educational programming:

Project Day

Today we will be working with a group of seven young adults, ranging in age from 15-18, who attend Grand Valley High School in Parachute, CO. From 10 am - 2pm these students will be given a hands-on introduction to sustainable agriculture from our partner at Fat City Farmers, by helping prepare the Wamsley Elementary School garden for winter. Topics discussed will include sustainable gardening practices, soil health, composting, invasive species, cover cropping and more.

10 am Arrival

Students are dropped off at today’s project location, Wamsley Elementary School in Rifle.

Each project begins with an introduction - who are we, why are we here, what we plan to do and logistics for the day. Through the lens of outdoor stewardship, starting with how we define the word stewardship - caring for something you care about. You can be a steward of many things - your family, your pets, your belongings - today we will participate in land stewardship by giving back to our community through improving shared outdoor spaces.

This introduction is all about understanding where we are, what we aim to accomplish and the importance of the work we’re taking on. Central to each project introduction is a “tool talk” - going through the tools we’ll be using that day, their purpose and how to safely carry, store and effectively use each one.

Today’s tools included we used trowels, rakes, shovels, buckets and our (gloved) hands.

10:30 AM Getting Our Hands Dirty

Once we’ve covered how to use the tools, including some brief demonstrations, it’s time to get hands-on! Students select a tool and a task to begin the day. Today’s project - preparing the Wamsley Elementary School Garden for winter - had a lot of potential options, from clearing the raised garden beds and adding to the compost piles to mulching around fruit trees and “putting the pumpkin patch to bed.” RFOV projects aim to incorporate a variety of tasks, so students rotate through roles throughout the day. When students switch roles, those students working on the raised beds instruct those working on fruit trees and vice versa, ensuring everyone has a part in the different goals for the day, as well as opportunities to learn from their peers.

*Students working in the (somewhat overgrown) pumpkin patch.*

12 pm Break for Lessons

RFOV youth projects balance work and education, taking time to learn about the unique outdoor settings where these projects take place. Today’s lessons ranged from soil science and principles of permaculture to impromptu discussions about human-influenced habitats, prompted by a startled mouse (and student). Today’s project overlapped the lunch hour, so students break for lunch while enjoying the views and the work already accomplished. Lunch is often a time to review what we’ve learned so far, assess the work we’ve completed and discuss goals for the remaining time, often while trying to solve a riddle or two.

12:30 pm Afternoon Push

With renewed energy from lunch and some rest, it’s time to pick up our tools and finish the prioritized tasks for the day. The afternoon is all about working at a comfortable pace - not racing toward the finish line. The rocks rings around the fruit trees were completed and filled in with new mulch, providing the trees with nutrients and helping to create new topsoil. Afternoon work focused on clearing the raised garden beds and adding the cleared organic material to the nearby compost piles - a self-contained cycle that will provide rich compost for use on the garden next year!

Breaks to learn about our surroundings are still important - each student received a small bag to collect cilantro which had gone to seed (otherwise known as coriander!) as well as basil seeds and some very-late-season carrots. It was an exciting reward to see that the garden still had harvest to give, even in late November.

*Newly mulched fruit trees complete with rock rings.*

*Tools in-hand, celebrating a job well done!*

2 pm Wrap-Up and Reflection

After hours of work, with breaks for lessons and lunch, we take time to look at what we’ve accomplished as a group. It’s easy to focus on a single task and lose sight of the work that the team has done. By coming together at the end of our project to discuss successes and challenges and take time to appreciate the value of the work, we reinforce the community-wide effort required to maintain our outdoor spaces.

Discussions today included the most interesting fact of the day, the most challenging aspect of the day, what students would aim to accomplish here with more time or more resources and how a network of partners is important to project success.

We end each project the way we began, by reintroducing the RFOV mission and emphasizing the importance of stewardship - caring for something you care about.

With that, students return gloves and tools and await pickup, with a new layer of dirt, sweat and well-earned sense of accomplishment.

Our Commitment to Education

RFOV believes that students take from our programs new knowledge and experience, as well as a better understanding of how active stewardship of the outdoors is a great way of giving back to their communities. A few hours of work, framed by new concepts and perspectives, helped prepare a garden that will positively impact hundreds of students at Wamsley Elementary School. This introduction to stewardship is meant to be a gateway to staying involved in local stewardship, asking more questions and spending more time exploring our shared outdoor spaces.