Thanks to Walker Farms, the freshman campus is now growing blueberries

By Trey Smith, Journalism Student at GWCFC

Recently at the George Washington Carver Freshman Campus (GWCFC), Spencer Highsmith and his agriculture class received a donation of 24 blueberry plants from Barton and Marsha Walker from Walker Farms. These blueberries were donated to the freshman campus for the purpose of showing and teaching kids how and where blueberries grow and to have fresh blueberries to eat. Also the blueberries that were donated to the freshman campus came in two different varieties so the students could see and experience how two different kinds of blueberries grew and tasted.

With the two varieties of blueberries being donated to the freshman campus, there were many differences between them. The taller and more mature blueberry plants should be fully grown by the late spring and early summer portion of the production cycle. Even though the taller and more mature blueberry plants will be fully grown by the late spring and early summer, the younger plants will we be fully grown by the early portion of the spring.

"We are grateful to industry partnerships like Barton and Marsha Walker with Walker Farms that see the importance of educating students about how their food is produced and where their food comes from. They truly believe in the future of agriculture and instilling ag-literacy in future generation of students and community members within the Coffee County community," said Highsmith.

Highsmith is very passionate about his work and wants to teach and show how students can learn by getting hands-on experience. Instead of just watching how blueberries grew, the students in Highsmith's class actually grew them. The students planted, watered, and set up the irrigation system for the blueberry plants. Half the blueberries grown will be used in labs for class and the other half will be sold to the school’s nutrition department.