Students across Ogle and Carroll counties have been busy making a seed-starting project with the Agriculture in the Classroom program.

With spring weather arriving and warming the area, now is the time to consider starting a garden and learning about how it can provide. Students from kindergarten through third grade have been learning just that, and get to take home some seeds that could sprout into vegetables.

The students first hear a retelling of the story called “Tops and Bottoms” by Janet Stevens, in which a rabbit grows a garden on his neighbor bear’s ground while saying he would do the work and split half the harvest with the bear.

The bear just never knows which half of the harvest he is receiving and ends up with the tops of carrots and turnips and the “bottoms” of lettuce and broccoli. The students have a chuckle at the trickery of the story and learn how different types of vegetables grow in different ways and how we have to be knowledgeable of the plants if we would like to receive the best harvest from them.

After the story, students are called over in small groups to start their seeds, while the rest of the class either does a “tops and bottoms” sorting worksheet or the older students start a journal to fill with observations as the seeds sprout.

The students are provided with a plastic glove with a label on each finger indicating the type of seed they will place there. They then wet a cotton ball, and we make sure the seeds are in contact with the moisture and sealed properly in the glove. This will create an incubating environment that allows the seeds to germinate and sprout while still letting the students see the process and remember which seed is which.

Over the years, students have returned and told staff about the veggies they harvested from the project, while other students have seen their older siblings bring home the Garden in a Glove and are excited that it is finally their turn to do the activity.

Each student now has the opportunity to grow and potentially harvest their own carrots, beets, onions, cucumbers and lettuce.

Agriculture in the Classroom is a program to help students gain a greater awareness of the role of agriculture in the economy and society. Students learn that thousands of farm products are in the world around them – on their plate, in the clothes they wear, in the medicine that makes them well, and in earth-friendly fuels and plastics.

Ag in the Classroom is offered through the University of Illinois Extension-Ogle County in partnership with Ogle County Farm Bureau, Carroll County Farm Bureau, Ogle County Soil & Water, and Carroll County Soil & Water.

For more information about the program, call the Ogle County Extension Office at 815-732-2191.