For life-skills students in Harrisonville, nurturing trees a fruitful lesson

It’s not just the students who are growing at Harrisonville Elementary School. A new orchard, planted by students recently, will be getting taller along with them.

Tricia Falke, assistant principal at the school, got the idea after she saw it done at another school in the area. She applied for a grant from Kansas City Community Gardens and the Giving Grove and received 15 trees and a raspberry patch for the school.

Nine students in the life-skills classes will be caring for the orchard and eventually be harvesting the fruit it produces. These students may have developmental or cognitive delays, and Falke is excited that they’ll get the opportunity to learn new skills for the future.

“We’re hoping that it’s going to provide learning opportunities for all of our kids but especially for our life-skills students. … They will learn how to do something that will help themselves as adults as well,” Falke said.

Other classes will learn about the biology of trees, and Falke said that any teacher can sign up to have his or her classroom get a chance to water and look for weeds.

“All of teachers have been given curriculum as far as the parts of the tree. Each month, we’ll give them another piece of curriculum related to the orchard so all of our students are building their knowledge as well,” Falke said.

The orchard features three trees each of European pear, Asian pear, apple, fig and jujube, as well as a 4-by-12-foot raspberry bed. The Giving Grove provided supplies and training to staff members.

“We’re all going to learn more about these fruits and what they look like and what they taste like and all of that fun stuff,” Falke said. “I’m excited to see what our kids learn from planting their own food source and seeing it through from planting to harvesting to the table.”

For the first two years, students will clip the buds on the trees so they can grow stronger before trying to produce fruit. When it is harvest time, Falke said the plan is for the school to serve the fruit in the lunchroom and send some home with students who already take food backpacks. Anything remaining may go to a local charity or food pantry.

At the orchard planting Nov. 5, agricultural students from the high school and representatives from Kansas City Community Gardens helped get everything ready.

“I liked being around the kids,” said Emma Wernex, 17. “They’re a lot more hard-working than I am. It was awesome to watch them.”

Teacher Sara Doherty said one elementary student told her she’d never even dug a hole before the planting event. She enjoyed getting to see the students outside of the classroom.

“I think it’s a great skill for them to have,” she said. “Very often, we see negative behaviors, and having responsibility helps alleviate those behaviors. It’s an incentive for them.”

Staff members have already volunteered to care for the orchard over the summer, when kids are out of school. Although they only needed two volunteers, Falke said the staff embraced the project, with a dozen staff members volunteering to help.

In the spring, a local Boy Scout troop will build a decorative vinyl fence where the school can hang a sign to label the orchard.