School elicits images of brick buildings, classrooms, desks, hallways, and lockers. But for Mark Turner, school is all about dirt, seeds, vegetables, chicken coops, and getting your hands dirty.

The Farm, as it is aptly named, is a program by the Rocky View Schools that allows students in grades nine and 10 to take their full curriculum, including core subjects, out in the wide expanse of the 15-acre farm, minutes outside of Airdrie.

Mark Turner, a co-teacher of the program said that some of the skills kids learn at the farm, something like using a drill when building a chicken coop, is part of the experience.

 

"If anything proves the students take risks and to try and do something different," Turner said.

 

But it's not just about scooping up chicken eggs or building a chicken coop. Turner said that students who come to the school often have questions about where exactly does their food come from. It seems almost banal, but with a global pandemic having tested the supply chain, Turner says that the experience at the farm helps kids in understanding the process.

 

"The peaches and nectarines that we have during the summer months are grown here in Canada," he said. " But during the other months, if they're not in season here in Canada, then where are they being grown and what are the implications of that?"

 

By teaching the kids about sustainability, Turner also addresses food waste at the farm. Turner teamed up with a local organization that allows him to pick up left-over food and bring it back to the farm and use it for pig feed. 

 

"It's cool to have students wake up to a system that is beneficial for some, but that it can be beneficial to all of us because we can feed so many people."

 

Staying true to his word, Turner's school was part of the Art of the Harvest festival, in which their vegetables were sold for 10 dollars a bag, with proceeds going to the Airdrie Food Bank