St. Elmo: Field trip helps farm, farmers

Crabtree Farms is turning city slickers into farmers, at least for one day, with its third annual Farmer for a Day program.

The first day, held recently at the St. Elmo farm, brought three adults and six children to learn techniques used in preparing the soil and plants for the upcoming gardening season.

In return, the “farmers” help the staff at Crabtree with their early spring chores — planting seeds in containers and transplanting seedlings from small containers into larger pots.

It’s a win-win situation for both.

“For a long time, we’ve been holding strictly workshops, but hands-on learning helps people have an easier time learning,” said farm manager Joel Houser.

Rashelle Stafford and Irene Hamilton home school their children and brought them to the farm for a lesson in gardening.

“We were itching for a field trip,” Mrs. Stafford said.

Since learning is the focus of any field trip, the children paid close attention to what Mr. Barron was saying in hopes that their home gardens would benefit.

“I learned how to plant better,” said 12-year-old Grant Stafford. “We haven’t started our garden outside yet, but we will soon.”

As greenhouse manager Mike Barron took the group on a tour of the farm, he explained the benefits of starting plants early in protected environments.

“On a small scale, the best place to start your plants is in your house,” he told the would-be farmers. “And you can place them on top of your refrigerator for a little extra warmth.”

If you have them outside and frost is in the forecast, he suggested placing an old sheet over the plants.

“That will bring the temperature up about 15 degrees,” he said.

Toran Hamilton, 9, enjoyed learning more about greenhouses and said that, while his family doesn’t have a dedicated greenhouse, their house works fine.

“We kind of use our kitchen as one. We have already started growing strawberry plants, blackberry plants and we have a lemon tree that’s, oh, I’d say about this high,” he said, touching his shoulder.

There will be a series of Farmer for a Day events in coming months, and Mr. Houser said all are seasonally appropriate. Themes will include potato planting and harvesting, and everything a gardener needs to know about garlic.

“The goal is to get a lot of stuff done around here,” Mr. Houser said. “But if it doesn’t get done, that’s OK, too. This is something fun to do. It’s a good excuse to get people to come out and introduce them to the farm.”