Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda is utilizing local goats to help nourish their garden.
WASHINGTON — Goats are chomping away at Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda, Maryland.
The furry chompers are on loan from Midatlantic Homestead Farm to help prepare the school’s garden for new veggies to be planted. This is just the beginning of a developing partnership between the school and the farm, with the hope of expanding Washington Waldorf’s agricultural program.
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“I think children need to establish a connection with the earth, and I think when children have experiences with their hands in the dirt, it’s so much more meaningful and profound for them and it carries throughout their lives,” says Jennifer Robison, a gardening and chemistry teacher at Washington Waldorf.
With help from Farmer Amy Taye from Midatlantic Homestead, the students are learning all about how goats will help their garden.
“The goats’ manure will be used as fertilizer, which will help the plants grow,” Fourth-grader Thomas Smith explained. “It’ll be a lot of fun this year planting all the different vegetables we have in the garden.”
Midatlantic Homestead Farm emphasizes holistic, regenerative farming and utilizes the goats’ big stomachs to help nourish the earth.
“Sheep and cows and horses, they’re grazing, they’re eating grass, but goats really want to be eating things that are head height and above, so these tall weeds and also like brambles and vines, that is the goat’s favorite thing to eat,” Taye said.
Throughout the year, the garden is maintained by third and fourth-graders.
“I like planting and sometimes I like weeding, but I mostly like planting plants,” said fourth-grader Sophia Mollard.
Food harvested from the garden is given to the school chef to integrate into their food program – so the whole school can benefit from the goodies in the garden and the lessons learned along the way.
“For the little ones, there’s social emotional learning as they’re interacting with the animals and being aware of their situation,” says Robinson. “All the way to human ecology in 12th grade, where they’re looking at this on a global scale and thinking about what are human beings’ responsibilities and roles to help the ecosystem heal.”
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