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Should We Teach Farming in Schools?

A high school chemistry teacher has an interesting open letter to his students in Energy Bulletin. He takes stock of a changing world, and makes some interesting predictions:

"Some of you will grow food. -- Probably a lot of you, actually. Even those of you who do other things as your main job. So you should probably start to learn how it’s done. Right now. Because it’s not something you can learn in a year – how to add fertility and prepare the soil, when to plant and harvest, how to store the harvest and save seeds, etc. There’s more to it than you think. And it’s gonna get even trickier when the climate starts its carbonic seizures – droughts, floods, heat, cold, and storms. In no particular pattern. So you better be good."

People still regard home farming as an elective "green" activity, but might it be a survival skill by the time current teenagers are adults. Should we start retooling home ec classes to start covering agricultural education?

I read this today. I've been thinking about teaching myself & my kids how to grow our own food. In fact, it's what I think of all the time.

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