Jamie Morris and Angie Midthun-Hensen

Morris’ and Midthun-Hensen’s innovative teaching idea, “Gardening with Sheep,” is a project to promote agriculture literacy at Verona Area High School and in the surrounding community. As a suburban community, most Verona residents have a lack of connection to farming, according to the teaching duo. The goal of the project is to educate students and the public about the uses for sheep and demonstrate the connections between different industries. The project will help teach where food and fiber come from while creating informed consumers. Students will also learn how to raise sheep and shear and process wool. The science of plant production and the benefits of adding wool to the soil will be taught, and students will learn career skills such as husbandry, gardening, marketing and processing. The Voya grant will go towards a press to produce pellets from sheep wool. This will allow the program to utilize the sheep in both the animal and plant science pathways to broaden agriculture literacy.