This week in Sustainability we built upon the animal care lessons and farm work that began last week and added in the start of preparations for our first Farmer’s Market of the year - October 22.
Our DGS farm and running a farmer’s market booth (6 times a year) is a core part of Sustainability class. Both are tangible ways to see that our actions and care have an impact on other beings, human and non-human. The farmer’s market adds in that aspect of Sustainability that the children don’t experience on our farm - Economics. This year the upper levels will be keeping up with expenses and revenue, and will be looking for ways to tweak and innovate to create an even more successful market. This will be a challenge, because our Farmer’s Market is pretty awesome already!
Upper El had an impactful (and delicious) introduction to the “Circular Economy” with their field trip on Tuesday to the innovation barn in Charlotte. It was so interesting to see a different aquaponic system and compare it to what we do here in the dome. If you’ve never heard of 100 gardens and Sam Fleming, check out his Ted talk to get an idea of the vision he has for schools and Charlotte. https://youtu.be/df5OrJptsWU You’ll see in the pictures they also experienced food redistribution and storage destined for food deserts, t-shirt to rug re-using, and #5 plastic collection to 3-D printing filament. Look for #5 plastic collection in drop-off line soon!
On Friday, we had the opportunity to reflect on the trip and I introduced the idea of looking at DGS as an “economy”. We will definitely be circling back (😉) on this in the coming months as I’ll challenge them to look for ways that our green school can become more circular. We do love a circle here.
💚Ms. Paula