4 Blue  Field Trip to Rico Banana Farm

Caribbean School is private Pre-Kinder -12th grade English immersion school in Ponce, Puerto Rico. All of our families were tremendously impacted by Hurricane Maria. Mr. Rodriguez and his family are fine examples of how the people of Puerto Rico are resilient and rebuilding their lives. We are happy to be a part of helping Puerto Rico se levanta!

When we were planting bananas we saw a dog in the middle of the field. He was medium size and color tan. The dog was with the workers. He was laying comfortably next to a large back pack and a large water cooler. He was using it as a shade. The dog never barked at us. He was just looking at us and at the workers. I thought he was very cute.

During snack time Mrs. Schierholt started eating a banana and she got an idea for a song. She called it the Banana song. She started singing the banana song and then she asked if we wanted to sing along. Almost everyone shouted yes!! Even Mr.Rodriquez said yes. We sang the banana song and danced it. It was funny.

When we first walked into the warehouse , we saw these large cement containers filled with water. These were used to wash the bananas when they first came from the fields.  We got to wash are hands in the cool water.

As we were going back to school, everyone was talking about all the fun we had. We were very happy that we got to go to the banana farm and learn so much!

Estamos contentos de ayudar a que Puerto Rico se levante nuevamente.

The farm today with the new banana plants.

There was a big wagon in the banana farm. After planting a lot of bananas all tof us got into the wagon. After a few minutes the wagon started moving. The wagon went to a warehouse where they go after they are picked.

We had to make the hole bigger so the plant could fit in better. The dirt felt very good. Some people saw worms that were pink. The dirt was sticky and very watery. You could make little balls with it. It felt good.

My dad, Wigberto Rodriguez invited both 4th grade classes to his farm Rico Banana, on September 12, 2018. Many students and teachers were wondering why they were replanting banana trees.  After Hurricane Maria, my family's banana farm was totally destroyed. There were no plants left. My dad has been working hard to replant the farm.  On this day, we went to help plant bananas.

Once I got to Pamela's farm, her father told me to carry one of the boxes that was filled with lots of banana plants. All over the field there were a lot of boxes filled with banana plants waiting to be planted. The box was so heavy. I almost fell carrying one of them.  The dirt was so soft and it could easily break apart since the other day it was raining so much. So I told myself  "Once I fall to the ground, I'm going to be covered with dirt!  And I don't like getting dirty!!"  So when I finished saying that in my mind,  I fell!!!  My pants where covered with dirt . But I''m glad that I still had a great time.

At the banana farm it was super hot. When we were in the warehouse,  Mr. Rodriguez opened a garage door and he told us to go in.  It was freezing cold in there,   Then he closed the door. There were a lot of bananas in boxes  and it  smelled weird. It smelled bad because Mr. Rodriguez uses a gas to ripen them. Then he explained to us that he can control when the banana plants will be ready to eat.   It was fun to go inside.

We got on the bus very early in the morning. We left for the farm at 7:30 am. The trip was not long because we were going to Guayanilla. We were listening to music the entire time. Some music was in Spanish. We ate snacks and talked on the bus. We liked looking outside the windows. When we arrived we saw the big farm.  We were very excited.

Written By, Caribbean School 4th Grade Blue

Mr. Rodriguez showed us baby banana plants that he had grown in small pots. He started with seeds. Now they were very small plants. They looked like the big ones, but smaller. We were going to transplant these little plants into the soil.  It will take 8 months before these little plants will produce bananas. 

During our field trip to the banana farm we were able to eat snack in the trailer!! When we were there we ate bananas and food that we had in our lunch boxes. We drank lots of water and then we went again to plant plants.

After the  workers dug the holes,  we had to  put the baby plants in the holes with the roots down.  The roots had to be down so that the plant would grown straight. We planted so fast that the workers couldn't keep up with us. So we had to wait for them to dig more holes. . My friend Valeria helped me.

Mr. Rodriguez showed us how to plant a banana plant straight.I planted it like they told me to do it. After I put my banana plant on the soil, I patted it so it didn't fall down or to the side. All of the students were careful to plant the plants straight. We had a lot of fun!

When the students were getting on the bus, the teachers were in a really old building.The teachers were in the old office of the original sugar plantation that was on this property before it was a banana farm.  The man who used to own the sugar plantation had a pet tiger that he kept in the lower floor of this building!

When we were arriving to the farm, we saw a huge field of banana plants .I looked out  the window from the bus and noticed some plants were large and some were medium. We also saw large empty spaces. Those were the spaces waiting for us to plant the banana plants. When we got out of the bus I was so excited do some planting.

After the bananas were washed they were hung on hangers that were on a chain. Then they were put in boxes. They were all clean and washed and then ready to go to the cooler.

There were workers doing the same thing as us-- planting bananas plants. They were so sweaty and we were too. On that day the sun was shining and It was very very hot. The workers work so hard. They are under the sun and dig the holes one by one using a stick. There were many workers working in the farm and planting bananas plants.

Mr. Rodriguez showed our class a fully grown banana plant. He explained how you can grow a new plant by cutting the bottom part. He lifted a sharp, long machete and sliced it right in front of us. Then he lifted up the bottom part where the roots are and explained that it can be planted. The difference is the banana plant will grow slower.

Mr. Rodriguez showed our class an adult banana tree. He explained that if you cut it in half and plant the bottom, we could grow a new plant. He then lifted the plant and sliced it using a long, sharp machete. Then he lifted the bottom part and said that we could put it in soil to grow a new banana plant. The difference is that this part could take much longer than planting a baby banana plant.

Mr. Rodriguez was explaining, that we had to dig a very big hole with our hands. Then we had to carefully put the banana plant in the hole. If the banana plant wasn't straight, we had to fix it so when it grows it will grow straight and won't crash into other plants. We were very careful.

The night before we came it rained a lot.   The mud was super sticky and I was stuck and couldn't get out. There were water puddles everywhere. The color of the water was brown.   Students had mud on their hands, shoes, arms and face. I had mud on my clothes. We were all excited about the mud. It was slippery.

Some of the workers came to us and had long metal rods in their hands. The rods were used to pound holes faster in the soil. The workers made many holes and then we used them to plant the baby banana plants. We dug the holes a little deeper with our bare hands. We moved the soil and planted the banana plant.

I was in the farm planting baby banana plants with my classmates . We planted more than 100 plants in three long rows. It was one of the largest fields we have ever been to. The banana field was so large we walked and walked and never got to the end. We could see workers far away also working and planting baby banana plans. The farm is so big, workers move around with tractors.

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