Why Winter Tulips?

Its cold. Its frozen. We haven't seen a sign of mother nature since November. I am tired of the landscape being in the color scheme of snow, dead plants, and mud. Give me some color!

That's one reason I started The Winter Tulip Project. But there is more to it than that. Its a project with students. 100% for charity. And it teaches so much.

A few years back my students planted seeds one day in class. The very next day a student returned and said "where's the carrots?"

The only frame of reference for planting seeds for that student was cartoons, where a seed is dropped in a hole and a carrot instantly appears.

It rocked my teacher brain.

But not everyone had a grandma that planted a garden and put you to work. Or rows of peas that the family picked then podded around the dinner table. Mountains of peas....

Growing things is a slow process. Groceries are pick up or deliver these days. I knew I needed to expose students to more growing experiences.

And the school year is awkward for growing things. We start in the harvest season. We end in the planting season. But tulips fit that calendar.

With some research I found a way to use some cooler space at home and put students to work. We plant, we water, we harvest, we process, we store, we bunch. And after they see the product ready to go out the door I remind them their work helps the Clark family and thank them for their effort.

If you know agriculture classes, you know we operate by "learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve" and the FFA creed, "for others, as well as myself. In less need of charity, and more of it when needed..."

This week is National FFA Week. A week where we raise awareness for a youth organization that promotes premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.

I believe in the FFA organization and what it does for young people. I believe more people need to know the work that goes into growing things. And I believe in teaching young people how to creatively find ways to help and serve others.

The Winter Tulip Project is all of that.