Tilling the Soil - A Thanksgiving Episode

In the midst of the Dust Bowl—an agricultural catastrophe that decimated crops and devastated the livelihoods of thousands of Oklahomans—President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned, “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”Fueled by a lack of understanding about sustainable land management and the heightened demand for food during World War I, once-fertile plains were transformed into barren deserts—a tragedy immortalized in Dorothea Lange’s iconic “Migrant Mother” photograph and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.Nearly a century later, educators Darci and Seth Reeves are working to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself. At Latta High School in Ada, OK– approximately an hour and a half southeast of Oklahoma City, they’re teaching students how to care for both their land and their health through agricultural science, Family and Consumer Sciences, and the Future Farmers of America program. This summer, their mission gained new momentum through a Fund for Teachers fellowship—becoming part of the ongoing solution to sustainable agriculture and community well-being.(Learn more about Seth and Darci's learning from their post-fellowship reports...)This fellowship was generously funded by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, which supports innovative people working in field-based science, art and craft, teaching and protection of the natural world.Learn more about Fund for Teachers on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages and apply for YOUR self-designed fellowship at fundforteachers.org.Music on podcast: Scott Harris: Clear Progress