Cortez Middle School collaborated with the Montezuma School to Farm Project and the Ute Mountain Ute tribe to send a group of sixth-grade students on a field trip to the Ute Mountain Farm and Ranch on Oct. 21.
It was the first field trip of its kind that was a result of collaboration between the three groups, CMS School Garden Coordinator Renee Nall said. The students are also enrolled in an agriculture class as a tie-in with MSTFP.
Sixth-grader Gillian Schuenemeyer said she enjoyed seeing the techniques she learned in class in action on such a large scale at the Ute Mountain Farm and Ranch.
“It was really cool going out there,” Gillian said. “I’ve never seen a farm that big.”
Nall said the group learned about soil health, weeding techniques, cover crops and pest management. They also talked about how the financial aspects of running a farm, learning how the 7,800-acre operation pays the bills, she said.
Sixth-grader Willa Rice said the group got to see the difference between a small-scale garden, like the middle school’s garden, and a large farm. At the middle school garden, the students pull weeds by hand, but at the farm, there are big machines that take care of that, Willa said.
Gillian said they got to watch another part of the farming cycle as they saw corn being processed into cornmeal. They were separating the young cattle from the old, so they watched that process, and the animals were very noisy, she said.
The resourceful farm produced five separate crops of alfalfa this season, Willa said. That’s impressive for Southwest Colorado, she said.
In class, the students learn about sustainability and recycling materials for gardening, Nall said, and they got to see those principles put into practice at the farm.
“They maintain cycles really well,” Nall said.
