Upper Elementary Visits Old School Farm

The UE class visited Old School Farm on Monday. The weather once again thwarted us from working on the farm in the morning, but we decided to have a picnic lunch. After we ate, Rachel Stubbs, one of the farm managers, took us on a tour of the farm, followed by a lesson about the luffa plant.

Students worked in groups to observe and compare freshly-picked and dried-out luffa gourds. They picked both types of luffa apart to examine the seeds and and to feel the fibrous skeleton of the dried luffas. Working in groups, they came up with curiosity questions and developed a few of them into possible experiments. Next week, we will be conducting one of these experiments. We hope to find out if luffas need to be exposed to oxygen in order to turn brown.