Students in the 21st Century program Thursday at Lewiston Middle School harvested greens that were grown in vertical hydroponic units.
The greens were brought to other students, who prepared a sandwich and a dessert using some of the ingredients that were just picked. "My favorite part of it is that you grow your own food and make your own food," said Gauge Locke, a seventh grader at the school. "You can make a salad or anything."
"The goal is to have a literacy component, a STEM component, health and wellness, leadership," said Gretchen Pleasant, coordinator for 21st Century. "With all of the components, we do work farms, we do cooking, we do sewing, quilting, woodworking, painting, they do basket weaving. We teach a lot of different hands-on skills that they may not have an opportunity to do."
"Each flex farm will grow 25 pounds of edible greens in 28 days for about a dollar per pound," said Sam Malesa, the partnership development director for Fork Farms, who make the hydroponic units. "There is no shortage of people who have limited access to food. If we can get that food access expanded and have that as a healthy option such as fresh greens, that's a huge win."
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