Students Plan to Visit Weise Farms
We are super excited about this Friday because a group of 35 high school students and faculty will be field-tripping to Weise Farms in a big yellow bus, to find out more about local farmers, food producers, and where their food comes from. These students are in a Lifetime Nutrition & Wellness class, and they were tasked in locating a local farm that would allow them to come for a tour, and actually work. They chose Weise Farms, and it feels like we have won the lottery!
We have a full day planned, starting in the morning with introductions and tour of the farm, sharing our mission and our "why."
The tour will start out walking over to our Wagyu cattle and how they are born and raised on the farm. We will talk about their purpose in life as they transition from birth to harvest. We will discuss store-bought beef, and how the industry does not require labels to have the country of origin on those labels. We will talk about how we source everything from local providers.
Our tour also includes the sheep, and lamb meat, chickens, and chicken meat, eggs, and hatching eggs, predators and the importance of having livestock guardian dogs, guinea fowl, grasshopper control for the garden, food preservation, such as canning, freezing, freeze-drying, pickling and pasta making. We will discuss why we have chosen each particular type of animal, and the health benefits for each one.
After the tour we will put them straight to work, planting Fall potatoes. We may even have a weed pulling contest with prizes! How fun is that?
We will provide lunch for the students serving our very own Wagyu beef spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. After lunch, we will gather for a little fellowship time, having an activity of placing labels on 400 cookies that Weise Farms and The Farmhouse Diner in Paige, Texas have partnered together for a fundraiser at a nearby church on Saturday.
In the afternoon, we will continue with a little more time in the garden, placing weed fabric, and planting some broccoli and cabbage transplants, and direct sewing seeds of beets, carrots, spinach and cool weather herbs, like cilantro.
We have an endless list of chores lined up, and I know we won't run short of things to do. But most importantly, our goal for them is connect with their food, and to know where it comes from. Not everyone can be a farmer, but they can all prioritize knowing a farmer, and knowing that what they eat directly impacts their Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness.
