In southwestern Oklahoma you can find squash plants and radishes growing in the middle of December in a greenhouse found at Navajo Public Schools.
Navajo STEM teacher Tana Curry was able to purchase a 10 x 20-foot greenhouse with the help of the OKFB Foundation for Agriculture Growing with the Foundation for Agriculture Grant.
Navajo Public Schools received one of the $10,000 Greenhouse Grants in 2023 from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.
“With us being a small rural school we wouldn’t be able to have this opportunity if it wasn’t for the Foundation for Agriculture Greenhouse Grant,” said Tana Curry, STEM teacher at Navajo Public Schools.
The greenhouse is currently being used to implement hands-on learning experiences for students to grow their own produce. Their FFA chapter, tech education and STEM classes have all used the greenhouse to teach students.
“They have not had a horticulture program for about 20 years,” Curry said. “We are trying to push for a farm-to-school program, and we want the students to understand farming and growing their own vegetables.”
Curry said the school hopes to establish a full horticulture program within the next school year.
The vegetables that are currently growing in the greenhouse are lettuce, radishes, squash and a variety of peppers. The next cycle of plants they hope to have in their greenhouse includes pollinator plants for pollinators like monarch butterflies.
The OKFB Foundation for Agriculture’s greenhouse grant program offers $10,000 in grants each year. The grant is targeted to groups and organizations who have a hands-on impact in their local community and work to provide connections with food and agriculture through access efforts or education.
The grant program serves the foundation’s mission of connecting consumers with production agriculture and educating Oklahomans about how their food is grown and raised.
