by Heidi Urish, Farm Garden and Educational Consultant; former EduCulture Intern

We’re happy to have ICP students back to the Farm School again for their third year!
The Orcas returned to beautiful Morales Farm with smiling faces and happy hands ready to dig in and harvest the potatoes that were planted last spring.

Using only their hands as tools, the Orcas filled their buckets with the beautiful golden potatoes that they carefully dug up. While we cleaned the potatoes we heard thunder and felt the wonderful wetness of the rain. The seasons are changing and it’s fall on the farm!

Each student then picked one small potato to cook on a camp stove that was set up in the greenhouse. As the rain pitter-pattered against the outside of the plastic walls, keeping us warm and dry inside, we talked about how potatoes grow and what they need to be strong and healthy.

While the potatoes were cooking and the rain subsided, half of the class went to pick sugar pumpkins from the vine while the others gathered eggs from the chickens to be used back in the classroom for cooking projects. When the class returned, the potatoes were ready to eat! The Orcas patiently observed, touched, smelled, and then tasted the warm potatoes that they had just harvested only 30 minutes before, all grown here on Bainbridge Island. We’re lucky to live in such a wonderful place!