Recently, students harvested seeds in the Don Hawkins Community Oak Savanna under the watchful eye of Don Hawkins himself.

High School Agriculture teacher Mr. Robinson (who fills the job Mr. Hawkins held for many decades) brought one of his classes down from the high school and they teamed up with the third grade. After some important instructions about which plants to target — bergamot, purple coneflower, side oats, wild rye grass, yarrow, and evening primrose — each high schooler led a small cadre of young students into the savanna.

They worked together to fill their buckets with seeds. As reflected in the video below, Mr. Hawkins was impressed with the harvest.

As he was leaving, one of the 3rd graders told Mr. Hawkins “I wish we could stay here all day.” Mr. Hawkins replied, “I wish you could too.”

A week later, it was the third-graders chance to visit their new friends at the high school Ag building.

Many hands worked together to thrash the plants over screens to extract the seeds.

The seeds then fell onto tarps, which the group gathered into buckets.

Next, the students will plant these native seeds in areas of the savanna that have come under attack by invasive species.

Through this project-based, multi-age, hands-on experience, the students are engaged and having fun . . . as they learn.

As a bonus they got to pet the school’s new calf.

– Contributed by the Hays