This year, the second graders are exploring the role of farmworkers in our community. We started the unit by sampling several fruits produced in California. The home kits contained a mix of organic citrus grown in the San Joaquin Valley (Marisol clementines, Satsuma mandarins, Kishu mandarins), organic mandarinquats, organic Medjool dates grown in the Coachella Valley, and gremolata Castelvetrano olives prepared by local food producer Bayview Pasta.
Together we came up with a definition of a “farm”: land where people grow fruits and vegetables and tend animals for food. I added that the U.S. government classifies a farm as a place that sells crops and/or animal products for a profit. Students defined “farmworkers” as the people who harvest fruits and vegetables, milk cows, and do all the tasks needed to keep a farm operating and thriving.
Before class, students watched a short video from KQED Arts & Culture: Portraits of Immigrant Farmworkers Bring More Visibility to Their Labor. Over the course of the next few weeks we will be touching on the themes of immigration, land ownership, worker safety, and the resilience of the farmworker community raised in the profile of Bay Area artist Arleene Correa Valencia. California produces over a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts, so we’re in an important place to be discussing these issues.
The second graders experienced a lot of flavors in a short amount of time! The mandarins were very sweet, the mandarinquats quite sour, the olives bitter and salty, and the dates very soft and rich. It was fun to see the full range of reactions from love to disdain, but the best part was trying new things as a group. We placed the mandarinquat seeds, the olive pit, and the date pit in between layers of moist paper towel and placed the seeds in a sealed plastic bag. Students will store these in a warm, dark place and we’ll continue to check on the seeds every week to share and document any changes.
