First Day of Class, May 9th

On May 9th 2013 we had our first class. During this class Mr. Morris went over the syllabus and the class as a whole. Mr. Morris told us about himself and as a class we told a little about ourselves as well. After the introduction of the class was over, we took the hike to the Food Forest on FGCU Campus. We walked from our classroom to the Food Forest and when we got there, there was a tour guide so to speak and she walked us through the Food Forest. She was telling us about certain trees and plants some that had edible leaves and some that were not so edible. I tried each leaf that was safe to try along with other classmates. Some were sour, tangy and sweet. It was weird eating leaves and thinking of leaves as food rather than just something that grows off a tree. Other than the leaves, there were also plants that had berries that we all tried; those were very good. As we walked through she showed us why certain plants/trees/bushes were planted where they were planted. She said that some of the reasons the plants/trees/bushes were planted the way they were planted was to help them grow correctly, help the wind get to them or shield them, help the sun get to them or shield them. I thought the way that everything was planned to a 'T' was very clever. You could see that it took time and effort when they made this Food Forest. Having this Food Forest on campus is a real benefit for everyone who is involved. I think that it was an awesome way of being green and teaching students new and healthy ways of eating. There were leaves that could be cooked as spinach or simply picked from the tree and used as lettuce for a salad. This is good for our school, students and faculty because we have the opportunity to get healthy fruits and vegetables through our very own Food Forest. There is also an opportunity to get students to do service learning hours at the Food Forest. I did it once and I loved it. It was very education and taught me a lot of discipline. It was very inspiring to see all the FGCU students so in-tuned with nature. They all knew what they were talking about, what plants did what for the environment, which ones were edible and so on. It was a very good experience and I feel that each FGCU student and faculty should spend at least one day out there, giving back. Not many people know that we have this on our campus and we need to make it known. I feel that it is up to us as students and faculty to spread the word. Everyone should know we have this at the tip of our fingers. Students worked hard to make this special for the people of FGCU and it should be shared with all of us.