By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Ag Farm has become a model for other agriculture programs in the state. Members of the Mesquite business community recently toured the facility with the idea to use it as a model for gardening programs currently being implemented in Mesquite schools. The new Virgin Valley programs are being sponsored by the Eureka Community Initiative.
Gerri Chasko, Director of the Eureka Community Initiative; and George Gault, from Mesquite Works and the Mesquite Opportunities Regional Fund; asked MVHS principal Hal Mortensen if they could tour the farm. Mortensen said he was happy to set it up for them.
The group toured the farm last week with Farm Manager Kevin O’Toole, local FFA advisor Denise O’Toole and this year’s FFA President, Tatyana Bullock.
The group started in the farm’s shade house where there are rows of garden beds planted by teams of MVHS Ag students. Bullock explained to the group that each bed is cultivated by a team of students, usually freshmen, who use them to learn the basics of gardening. Older students who enjoy gardening can also have garden beds as well as grape vines where they can learn pruning skills.
In addition, students cultivate and tend outdoor garden beds where larger plants such as broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and cauliflower are grown.
Chasko and Gault observed students working in both the shadehouse and the outdoor gardens and asked several questions.
Denise O’Toole explained that the weather in this area works perfectly with the school year. Kids can plant both a fall garden and a spring garden. The timing for fall gardens coincides nicely with the beginning of the new school year and fall gardens also have the added extra bonus of having very few weeds or pests.
Chasko explained that she worked closely last summer with Bunkerville and Virgin Valley elementary schools, helping to start a gardening program at both schools. She also has been working with the ag programs at both the middle and high schools in Virgin Valley, which she intends to continue.
With the help of the Eureka, the high school was able to begin a culinary program last year as a natural follow-up to their gardening program. It was also done with an eye toward finding and training students who may be interested in a career as a chef.
“We are excited about this program because it has already been very successful,” Chasko said.
She went on to explain that casino restaurants have already hired students that graduated from last year’s inaugural culinary program at VVHS.
Chasko said that the idea to start gardens at the elementary schools was a natural progression from the nutrition program that the schools have adopted. Working with the “Green Our Planet” organization, students in kindergarten through 5th grade are taught the basics of nutrition, how to grow healthy food, how to read and interpret recipes, and how to cook that food.
“It’s a whole curriculum that helps our students prepare for the future and learn the skills that they need to be successful,” Chasko said. “We teach them to how to grow food and then we teach them how to cook it.”
The group also toured the Ag Farm chicken coop and pomegranate orchards before moving on to the greenhouse and the straw bale classroom. In the greenhouse, Chasko and Gault observed several trays of vegetable starts that MVHS Ag students had planted, for both themselves and the Virgin Valley schools.
The visitors also viewed how the farm grows tomatoes, as well as their hydroponic set-up for growing lettuce. They were impressed when O’Toole explained that using their current hydroponic system the farm can grow 1,000 heads of lettuce at a time, with 200 heads harvested a week.
Chasko and Gault saw the current cooler where farm fresh vegetables are sold on the honor system to members of the community. They also visited the straw bale classroom, which is currently in the process of being transitioned into a commercial kitchen for the food science program.
Mortensen was encouraged by the visit. “We always enjoy hosting tours to spread awareness of our farm and the great programs at our school,” Mortensen said. “We don’t want to see these great opportunities for students to go away.”
