The Castle as a Classroom

Republished from TheKentuckyCastle.com - By Tabitha Collins

You come to the Kentucky Castle for tours, good dining, and the sense of a fairytale. But what if the Castle was your classroom? Every morning I get on Versailles Road and drive to the Castle to spend two hours working with the staff. But I’m not an employee, I’m a full time high school student. And the Castle is my classroom for two hours every few days each week.

Being here on the farm, there’s one thing that is for certain: The Kentucky Castle staff is dedicated to their Farm to Table mission. They’re hard at work to make sure everyone that comes in to the Castle is informed about their food and what they’re eating, but they’re also hard at work running a business that guests can come and enjoy.  Over the past few months, The Kentucky Castle teamed up with Locust Trace Agriscience center to build a program where students have the opportunity to come out to the Castle and use it as a hands on classroom.

 It’s different than anything that’s been done before, and the students from the Locust Trace Agriscience Center couldn’t be more excited. Our teacher, Mrs. Toni Myers, is leading the way in this new hands on teaching method. Now, what do we do for two hours? We partner with the Castle staff to ensure their farm to table initiative is implemented with quality. We’re helping them build their dream, all while learning how to grow food and take care of animals. School’s only been in session for about a month, but we’ve already established some goals for the school year, including starting a compost system, helping them establish their trademark lavender, helping with the Chef’s Garden and much more.