It takes one look at Turkey Creek Middle School to know that they are serious about their agriculture department. The school has a beautiful view of a strawberry field, which the students have been tending to for decades. Behind the school are four commercial heifers and a flock of sheep. In Allison Sparkman’s classroom, a lop-eared bunny cleans itself underneath her desk.
Sparkman and Buddy Coleman, both FFA advisers and agriscience teachers, are instrumental in carrying on a tradition that dates back before their time. Until 1956, Turkey Creek was a strawberry school, which closed for the three-month strawberry-picking season so students could work the fields.
Throughout the year, Sparkman and Coleman lead the school’s Strawberry Project, through which students learn about strawberries, the process of planting and picking and how to sell their product.
Every year, students plant strawberries in the fall and then pick in the winter. They sell their crops to earn money to fund the school’s 170-student FFA chapter, which dates back to 1936.
TEACHING A TRADITION
“You want to pack only the berries you would eat,” Sparkman tells her students. “Don’t pick any green ones and when you pack them, make sure that mostly red is showing. That’s what the customers want to see.”
The tips have sunken into most of the students. Seventh-grader Baylee Astin gives the same tips.
“Don’t pick the ones that have any green and think, ‘Would I eat this?’” Astin says.
Of course, Astin has experience with picking strawberries. Her family owns Astin Farms. Her father, Sam Astin, has kept the Strawberry Project alive by providing materials such as flats and clamshells and taking excess berries to the market for the school.
“It’s definitely been a family tradition for them,” Sparkman says. “People always tell us we do a good job, but it’s not just us, it’s him.”
In addition to selling berries and an array of vegetables to the public, three schools are buying strawberries to serve in their lunchrooms. Last year, Turkey Creek raised $17,000 from selling strawberries, plants and hay.
“The students look forward to it all year long,” Coleman says. “Then they get so excited when the buds grow. But by the time they’re done picking, they are tired and asking, ‘When are we done?’”
The record number of flats collected in one day was 122. It was the first day that Sparkman introduced punch cards to keep track of the number of clamshells the students collected. The yellow cards are the same ones used in the field by farmworkers. The students earn incentives, such as ice cream parties, for collecting the most. So far, the students have picked 937 flats since Dec. 17.
“Some of them work their butts off the whole time,” Sparkman says.
OUT IN THE FIELD
It’s hard work. Some students stoop over in the sun, while others get dusty sitting on the ground. The shed offers the shelter of shade when the students bring their clamshells to be examined from the field.
Two students man the shed, selling berries to the public and inspecting the clamshells, making sure the berries are acceptable. That means no green and no mushy meat.
“You have to have just the right ones,” Astin says while inspecting the strawberries. “It’s kind of frustrating, sometimes, when you have to go back.”
Astin and her friend, Chloe Tew, work the shed but say they prefer picking.
“I like picking better, because you get to eat the strawberries,” Tew says.
Out in the field, Coty Deluca picks strawberries with his friends Fredi Ventura and Daeton Chesser.
“It’s kind of fun, because you get to be with our friends and be outside,” Deluca says.
“It’s just kind of fun being outside,” Ventura says. “You get to relax and just talk.”
Shortly after the boys get back to picking, Astin and Tew, who sneaked out of the shed, walk by eating some strawberries.
Another group of students nearby yell out “strawberry fight!” But the students know they can’t waste the precious produce. It’s the middle of the season, and the berries are ripe. Astin says at the end of the season, when some of the unpicked berries are rotting, her family gets into strawberry fights on their farm, throwing the mushy masses and staining their clothes red.
Back at the shed, Sparkman helps a customer, Armellia Andrews. Andrews is a volunteer at Robinson Elementary, next door to Turkey Creek Middle. She has come to buy produce at the school three times a week for the past four years.
“This is the best place,” Andrews says. “I like it because of the school. I believe in giving back to the school. I know that they’re fresh, and they’re always good.”
For more photos, see our exclusive gallery.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
IF YOU GO
Relay for Life U-Pick
WHEN: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 23
WHERE: Turkey Creek Middle School, 5005 S. Turkey Creek Road
CONTACT: Allison.Sparkman@sdhc.k12.fl.us“>http://volgograd-stalingrad.ru/sms-zaymi-onlayn-na-bankovskiy-schet.php