Spring is here, and it’s time for those luscious gardens full of pretty flowers, healthy vegetables, and tasty fruits. It’s also a great time to start teaching the younger generations about plant health, the planting process, and the benefits of growing your own food. Toni Sorenson, VP of traditional lending, decided to use her farm and agronomy background to teach young children at her local school district about planting strawberries, the anatomy of a strawberry plant, and even used this topic to explain potential careers in the farming industry.
Toni is on the Farm to School Committee for the Southern Door School District, and one of her projects was revamping the school garden. She also wanted to use this time as an opportunity to teach the children about planting. She decided to focus on strawberry planting with the students because when’s she’s not working at GreenStone, she’s home working on her strawberry, apple, and cherry farm.
Toni teaching a group of students
While volunteering at the school, Toni planted strawberry towers with four different classes. While planting, she explained to the students how some plants have roots that grow above the ground, how baby strawberry plants are connected to the mother plants, strawberry plant physiology, and even explained her role at GreenStone to incorporate career basics into the class.
“In my past life, I was an agronomist. So, the deep knowledge of plants, plant health, and things like that I’m pretty passionate about,” said Toni.
Toni also had the help of her family during this volunteering. Her children helped prep the garden the day before planting, and she donated the use of their rototiller and garden tractor for the project.
“It’s always fun to engage the youth in agriculture- I like seeing the kids enjoy getting out there in the soil and showing them it’s really not that complicated to plant things. I hope that this will encourage them and their parents to plant a garden,” said Toni.
GreenStone encourages all employees to volunteer and make an impact on people.
“I appreciate working for a company that sees a value in us being part of the community. It’s huge to know that they understand how much they help us make an impact on our communities,” said Toni.
To learn more about how GreenStone employees make a difference in their communities, visit- Open Fields Blog | GreenStone FCS
