Do you know how to do something useful?

Can you compost or build a worm bin? Raise champion egg-layers? Keep bees?

Eager students are ready to learn practical skills from community volunteers this year through the public school’s Farm to Classroom program. The program is open to a myriad of possibilities, although activities must take place at the school due to short 55-minute classes.

“I am happy with whatever somebody has to share,” said coordinating teacher Mandy Randolph. “Anything from nutrition, sustainability, cooking, hands-on skills – When someone is passionate about something, that is the most exciting thing we can give to the kids. If you have a particular skill that you would like to share with the classes I would love to hear from you! Last year we had guests teach us how to make pies, grind flour and make bread, string popcorn, create garden art, plant seeds and seedlings, and so many other activities.”

Community members might be surprised to learn that some of the skills they take for granted are unknown to today’s students. Randolph said the kids strung popcorn last year because some of them had never threaded anything before in their lives.

“Sewing might have been too much to take on,” she said. “They learned how to thread a needle. It seems so simple, but I think it’s life changing. You’ve given them a skill. What’s important to me is giving them experiences.”

Bolstered by a $10,000 grant from the Orcas Island Education Foundation, the program will serve students from kindergarten through sixth grade this school year. Classes will run on Mondays and Fridays from 9:35 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.

Randolph is especially interested in finding a volunteer to teach composting this year, so the students can begin composting cafeteria scraps.

“We would need to have the kids understanding why they’re doing it, what’s appropriate to put in,” she said. Randolph would also like volunteers to teach about chickens and beekeeping, and says her “pipe dream” is to set up a chicken coop at the school so kids can use the eggs for cooking projects.

The Farm to Classroom program was developed to educate students in support of the Farm to Cafeteria program, which purchases locally grown produce for school cafeteria lunches.

“During the winter months, while the garden is sleeping, we will spend much of our time learning about nutrition and doing cooking projects,” said Randolph. “It is really lots of fun to cook with the kids because they are so eager to participate and so many of them have not had this opportunity before. I look forward to another exciting year and hope that you will join me sometime.”

Volunteers to provide general assistance are also needed.

“I would be thrilled to have at least one adult helper for each class,” said Randolph.

For more information or to volunteer, call Mandy Randolph at 376-1583, or email her at mrandolph@orcas.k12.wa.us.