The Silver City Watershed Keepers was thrilled to participate in Journey Through the Food System in several local schools. We believe that environmental education of our children is paramount to building a healthier community.
Over the past two school semesters, the Watershed Keepers were able to interact with over 240 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in Hurley, San Lorenzo, Bayard, and Central elementary schools through the Journey Through the Food System program. This program, hosted by The National Center for Frontier Communities and The Frontier Food Hub, brought together several local groups such as The Commons, Upper Gila Watershed Association, New Earth Project, Heart of the Gila, the Southwest New Mexico Seed Exchange, Sembrando Salud!, Cooking with Kids, and Healthy Kids-Healthy Communities, to teach students about different aspects of their local food web. Students rotated between tables to learn about how seeds sprout, how plants grow, the different types of fruit, how compost works, food nutrition, and what farm animals eat. It was so fun to interact with the bright and inquisitive students at these schools!
The Watershed Keepers provided lessons about how water moves through our ecosystem and how we share our water amongst humans, crops, farm animals, and native plants and wildlife. These activities really allowed students to show off their creativity!
In the spring semester, former Silver City Watershed Keeper program Coordinator Beth Cable led students through the journey of a water droplet. They acted out how water drops fell from clouds as raindrops, landed on leaves, splashed onto rocks, squeezed through the soil, and flowed downriver. The students embraced this opportunity to practice their dance skills!
In the fall semester, our new coordinator Alesia Hallmark, followed the journey of those water droplets after they entered the water supply. We played a short, cooperative game in which students were assigned various roles such as “Human Consumption,” “Farm Animals,” “Native Wildlife,” “Crop Plants,” and “Native Plants,” all with different baseline water needs. During each round of play, we rolled dice to see if we would have a wet year or drought year. Students then cooperated to decide how to share the limited water supply. Afterward, we had a (surprisingly!) lively discussion about the importance of clean, healthy water for our ecosystems, personal use, and food supply. Students displayed impressive negotiation skills, empathy for other players, and a keen understanding of water scarcity in our region.
Thank you to The Frontier Food Hub for hosting these events. We love to see the intelligence and creativity of this upcoming generation!
