On Tuesday, summer school students at Presidio Elementary made the long trek to Marfa to see hydroponic farming — in other words, growing food without soil — on a large scale at Village Farms. Over the past few years, Presidio kids have been experimenting with the technique in class. Ruby Hermosillo's third-grade class is currently tending to lettuce, which was originally sprouted in a tray and then transferred to the school's vertical "Flex Farm."
Thanks to the Big Bend Conservation Alliance (BBCA) and Amerigroup, there are now Flex Farms in schools across the region, including Presidio, Marfa, Fort Davis, Alpine and Terlingua. In Presidio, regular school year students have been switching off with summer school students in farming and then using the products grown by their classmates. The goal is exploring different scientific concepts — like parts of plants, the pH scale, the nitrogen cycle — while also encouraging students to eat healthy and consider planting their own gardens at home.