Think of one thing you want to improve about your health. Maybe you want to sleep better, or have more energy during the day. Or perhaps you just want to avoid the cold that's going around. Look up what foods can help with that issue.

Start by googling "foods that help _____."

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR:

Have a conversation about which foods have which healing properties. Don't be afraid to let students go down health rabbit holes on their Google searches.

In this XP, you'll learn what it takes to start to grow your own food with container gardening. While most plants grow best outside with room for their roots to spread out, there are a variety of other unique ways to grow plants. Not only is container gardening a good way to save time, space and energy, but it's also a great first step towards becoming a master planter!

The best way to learn is through experience, so roll up your sleeves and get outside. Visit and volunteer with a local garden, like Fleet Farming, Growing Orlando, or the Parramore Community Garden. Or, do a quick search for farms near you.

Once you have some experience, here's what you'll need to make your own container garden:

• a sunny spot (preferably 6-8hrs of sunlight per day)
• a container (check out this list for container inspiration)
• potting soil
• water
• seeds

Now you'll be eating your own homegrown produce in no time!

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR:

Have students take a picture of their newly planted containers for social media!

Did you know about one third of food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted?? That's crazy considering how useful uneaten food can be in creating NEW food!

Composting is the act of taken uneaten or unused food scraps (think apple cores and banana peels) and turning it into rich, beautiful soil that can be used for gardening and farming. And while the actual chemical process that occurs to make compost happen is complicated, it's actually amazingly simple to make it yourself!

In this XP, you'll learn how to divert your food waste from the landfill and turn it into rich, beautiful soil for your garden. There are many different ways to make compost, so spend a little bit of time on the internet looking for the right method for you. Maybe you enlist the help of some special compost worms or in a regular compost bin. Check to see if your city has a compost program like the City of Orlando does!

Once you have a composting system set up at home, challenge yourself to divert all of your personal food waste for one week. If you don't have a home system, collect your scraps in a container and put it in the freezer until you can take it to a nearby farm or community garden that makes their own compost. But wait! All food scraps are not equal... Check out this resource for some tips on what is compostable.

Happy dirt-making!

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR:

Challenge students to bring their frozen compostable foods to add to the compost bin.

Whether you're planning your front yard garden or your market farm, here are some things to keep in mind when creating your plan:

• the size of your garden
• the amount of sun your garden gets throughout the year, and the length of your growing season
• the number of people the garden will be feeding
• what you all like to eat, and the space those plants take to grow
• the needs of the plants you want to grow
• the method of gardening you are using (raised beds, rows, biointensive, etc.)
• what was successful in the garden last season, and where you planted it

First, take some time to think about you! Putting it all on paper together is the key to discovering career paths to explore:

• Make a list of your top five skills
• Next, make a list of five things in your dream day
• Consider- How do the skills fit into your perfect day? Are you outside all day or inside? Are you inside a laboratory or a gym? Do you dream of creating gadgets or selling or cooking?

There are several ways to test out jobs that involve your interests and further develop your skills. It’s a good idea to test out an idea before committing a lot of money and time. For example, if you think you’d like to be a chef, you might want to find ways to get some exposure by:

• Volunteering
• Finding an entry level job or internship
• Earning badges on LRNG
• Creating a portfolio or LinkedIn profile as a way to catalogue your work (like all of those badges you've earned!)
• Going to college. Be open minded, at let your interests guide you as you explore different majors and minors, looking to see what might line up with your two lists.

As you explore, remember to be open minded! Keep in mind what might line up with your two lists and let your interests guide you as you explore different paths.

FOR THE INSTRUCTOR:

Have the students share their lists of skills and daydreams they made.

Like what you've learned so far? There are so many ways to discover more about agriculture and health. In this XP, you will explore a few online resources and learn of ways to find information.

Homegrown information: Here in Florida, the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (UF/IFAS) is a great resource! They have extension offices all through the state, and there is one in Orange County. The Orange County Extension Center has a website and a YouTube channel. Take a look and see what interests you.

What's everybody saying: There are a lot of people on social media talking about health. Go to your favorite social media platform and put "health" in the search bar. Take a look at how many health related pages there are. Check out TedTalks about health on YouTube. Go to Instagram and put #health in the search bar.