New Edgewood Children’s Ranch program takes root

Hope. 

That’s what the new program at Edgewood Children’s Ranch — Hope Farm — seeks to transmit to all students who go through it. 

“It’s ‘Hope Farm,’ because of everything that we do in our program,” Edgewood Children’s Ranch  Executive Director Bruce Jordan said. “Everything we do (here) is to provide hope for the children that we work with: hope for a better future, hope for potential in their life, hope to get out of the circumstances that they are in. So, Hope Farm just adds to it (and) that’s why it’s called Hope Farm, because it’s another extension of what we do for providing hope.” 

Students who go through the program will be able to learn lifelong lessons and realize good things take time to mature, grow and flourish. Moreover, they will learn time, patience and dedication can go a long way in farming — just as they do in other aspects of life.

“They learn how to work, they learn schedules, they learn perseverance,” Jordan said. “Sometimes, the first time you plant something may not always work, so you have to work through that (to see results).” 

A BIGGER PURPOSE

There are several elements included in the idea behind the farm. 

The program can serve as an educational tool for students, a means to feed all residents of the ranch, a therapeutic activity and a fundraising tool through selling the excess produce harvested by the students.

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“We were looking for a way to engage students that necessarily don’t want to do book work all day long,” Jordan said. “(Students) that aren’t looking to even potentially go into a detailed college career but (instead), do something different (such as) agriculture or some other kind of trade that they can still get a degree in.” 

Edgewood Children’s Ranch’s new program functions through food donations — the same way all children at the ranch are fed daily. 

“Imagine a child who is able to go out into the garden, grow their own food and then be able to eat that same food that they grew,” Jordan said. “Another piece is therapy. Our kids come from adverse childhood background, a lot of trauma in their backgrounds. So, for some children it’s therapeutic to dig in the sand, to plant plants, to go out and work in the garden.” 

The ranch works with Valencia College students, who guide the students through their work at Hope Farm while accumulating credit hours. 

“They get the experience of being able to work in a real farm or garden,” Jordan said. “Our students get to rub elbows with Valencia students. And they get to learn that there (could be) another career for (them) and say, ‘If these guys that I’m working side by side with are going to college, I can go to college.’ So, it gives them hope for their future.” 

PLANTING THE SEED

The idea for the program was born about a decade ago, when former Edgewood Children’s Ranch Director Stuart Eldridge; ranch volunteer, supporter and previous employee Bruce Myrick; and, Javier Garces, professor and program chair for the Plant Science and Agricultural Technology Program at Valencia College, discussed partnering to start a garden.

However, because of sustainability issues, the program was set in place for about three to four years prior to becoming dormant until last year — when the idea was set on the table and put up for discussion once more. 

“We are just adding a little more to it,” Jordan said. “We are adding an elective in our school so that it’s a part of an agriculture track for education where we are adding in the potential sale of the produce for a fundraising portion to sustain the farm so that we can have it  be sustainable long-term.” 

Students between the ages of 9 and 17 years old are welcome to participate in the program — which requires a minimum of five students and has a limit of eight students per class. 

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“The teacher-per-students ratio is really low,” Jordan said. “We have one teacher to eight students, so one teacher will be out there supervising and monitoring the students — the lead farmer (Mike Wilcox), who is also a Valencia College student, now works for us, (and) helps educate the kids on how to do it. He shows them how to farm.” 

Students are taught how to farm different produce — and care for different seeds — such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, greens, carrots, onions, basil and even watermelons. 

“It’s a confidence-booster,” Jordan said. “It’s a little win when they realize, ‘I can do this.’ It’s one more thing that they can do and another experience they are able to try. It builds confidence to where their new story in their life is going. So, it is the meaning behind it. … They need to take the class, because they need to discover what they may not know they like.”

Wilcox teaches the students how to properly farm vegetable produce through different planting technologies. The students learn how to plant crops — and care for them — using the fertigation system, the vertical hydroponics system and a more biological approach to farming. 

According to Garces, the fertigation system works through fertilizing the produce through irrigation, the vertical hydroponics system allows for better utilization of space — both outdoor and indoor — and the more biological approach allows for a more organic farming and biological approach of the living system. 

“I’m hoping in the next year or so, the (farm) will have some financial stability,” Garces said. “That’s the key, to not make this something that costs the ranch money but that makes the ranch money.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Another factor that adds into what the Hope Farm program provides to the children at Edgewood Children’s Ranch stems from how students are able to realize they are able to grow their own food. 

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“A lot of the kids in our program — they do come from those homes that are in food deserts,” Jordan said. “So, the convenience store or the fast food or whatever is the quickest thing. That’s their meal; that’s what they have to eat. And all of the sudden, now they are able to grow something that’s healthy that now they can eat and be healthy.” 

“We can show the children that there is hope,” Garces said. “Show them that we can grow our food, we can plant a seed, tend to a crop and then harvest the produce, and enjoy the fruit of our labor. Part of it for me, also, is to show these children that there are very valuable, sustained careers in agriculture. Not jobs, careers — lifelong careers — and this also shows our college students the hands-on teaching part, demonstration part and even a research part in our plant science program.”