As was mentioned in past articles and letters, but may not have been clear enough, the main goals of the Community School Food Unit were to learn more about food production, to learn about the effects of an unhealthy diet and to show the benefits of vegetarianism. Our intention was not to shine a spotlight on the killing of chickens, but to help others in the community follow a healthier diet.
We felt that by raising chickens we could better comprehend the difficulty of food production, and understand that if we wanted to eat meat, we should know what's in it. Our particular chickens came from a hatchery that breeds meat chickens. These chickens wouldn't even exist if their final destinations were not our plates. We built a large chicken coop so they were able to travel in and out. We also weighed the chickens weekly, and kept track of their weight gain as compared to their food consumption.
Additionally, we learned how to grow our own plants. Some students from our class collaborated to build a greenhouse off of our classroom. Once it was completed, we transferred our garden into it.
Our project focused on many topics, not just chickens. We took field trips to farms and dairies, where we continued to learn about the production of food, watched films, did research and had discussions about food. There were many aspects to this project, and the goal was to encourage healthy eating, not just to kill chickens.
K. Feldman
Student
The Community School
Sun Valley
