Join eight year old junior farmer Lyra for a tour of her family’s farm in Haywood County, NC. Two Trees Farm (home of the Sustainabillies, aka Lyra and her parents Sara and Dustin) is a sustainable homestead focused on supporting a healthy, diverse ecosystem while also growing food.
From picking blueberries and tasting garden-grown lettuce, to polliwogging for tadpoles and digging for worms, Lyra shares with other kids what it’s like to live on a small farm in the Appalachian Mountains.
We all know that farmers grow food, but did you know that farmers can help protect the environment, too? In her Meet Your Farmer video, Lyra’s mom–farmer and teacher Sara Martin–shares a real-world lesson on biodiversity. Sara demonstrates some of the ways that small farms like hers help support healthy ecosystems. Learn about the different ‘niches’ (or jobs) that organisms play, and see strategies for promoting diversity, such as interplanting crops, planting pollinator gardens, and preserving wild spaces.
Explore suggested Growing Minds lesson plans, recipes, and resources to pair with these videos below.
Vocabulary words
Organism – an individual plant or animal.
Biology – the study of living things.
Diversity – different types or varieties of things.
Biodiversity – the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
Niche – the role an organism plays in a community.
Interplanting – planting different types of crops in one area.
Polliwog – a tadpole, the tailed aquatic larva of an amphibian.
Pollinator – an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower.
Journal Prompt
In her video, farmer Sara explains some of the ways that they help create healthy habitats for insects and wildlife on their farm. What are some of the examples she gives? Could you try any of these activities in your own yard or school garden to create healthy habitats for wildlife? What else could you do in your yard or school garden to protect the environment?
Lesson Plans & Resources
Preschool
- Insects in the Garden lesson plan
- What Plants Need lesson plan
- Garden Plot Crackers lesson plan
- Colorful Plate Spinners lesson plan
Grades K-2
- Garden Planning lesson plan
- Planting in the Garden lesson plan
- Searching the Garden Safely lesson plan
- Insect Exploration lesson plan
- Butterfly Life Cycles lesson plan
- Worm Exploration lesson plan
- Seasons on a Farm lesson plan
- Harvesting in the Garden lesson plan
- Farm Animals lesson plan
Grades 3-5
- Inch by Inch, Row by Row lesson plan
- Eating in Season lesson plan
Resource lists (featuring thematic books, recipes, activities and more)
Local Food Recipes