By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post
The Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom program has experienced tremendous growth in demand from teachers wanting to include agriculture in their curriculum. So much so, there are currently 1,100 classrooms — over 23,000 students — signed up, creating the need for an additional $20,000 in funding to avoid turning away students.
Sisters Rachel (Linke) Allnut and McCall (Linke) Knecht worked together with their cousin, Sierra Linke, to create Seed, Sprout, Spice for the Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom project. All three young women are ranch raised and graduated from Middle Park High School. Allnut, a kindergarten teacher used her teaching expertise in foundational reading skills and her love of agriculture to write the text and, paired with Linke’s art, Knecht began publishing and spreading the word. With one foot in marketing and the other in her life married to a chile grower, promoting Pueblo chiles came naturally.
From her efforts marketing the book, the Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom project added elementary schools in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, boosting statewide classroom participation in record numbers.