Austin Werner's teacher, DeAnne Bose, sent Austin and his classmates home one day last spring with a cabbage plant.
The mission was to plant it, water it, check for bugs and hope that a hailstorm wouldn't wipe it out. The estimated maturity time is 10 to 12 weeks, from seedling to harvest. That would mean taking care of the plant all summer.
Austin, then 9, took his assignment seriously. The cabbage plant — from a seedling provided by the Bonnie Plants company — flourished, turning into a 9-pound specimen that fed Austin's family in a variety of ways.
"We fixed cole slaw, Runzas, boiled cabbage with butter and I finally got to the point I was thinking, what else can I do with it?" said Austin's mother, Melissa Werner.
Before she could make even a small side dish with the handsome cabbage, it needed to be weighed and photographed. Now in fourth grade, Austin needed to take his photo and weight total to his third-grade teacher by a Sept. 9 deadline.
Then he waited.
In October, he received a letter from Bonnie Plants announcing that he was Nebraska's winner.
"Once I got the letter, I was so excited I just ran outside and started yelling, 'YES! I got a thousand dollars,'" Austin said.
His school held a recognition program, at which Austin received congratulations from the seed company and the state agriculture department.
"It was a great learning experience," his mother said, noting that this summer, Austin and his little brother Alex, a first-grader, want larger roles in the family garden. In past years, they had helped pick produce as it ripened. Austin's experience taught him that plants often need more water than summer rains provide, may need a dusting of insecticide and possibly protections from winds and hail. A severe storm last June threatened the cabbage plant, Austin said, but a nearby fence blocked the wind.
The Werners, a family of five, plant a variety of vegetables in a large backyard plot. The produce suits their needs and the surplus goes to friends and neighbors.
The National Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program involved more than 1.5 million third-graders in 48 states. A winner is chosen by random drawing from each state and that child receives a $1,000 savings bond from the company. The company also provides the O.S. Cross, or oversize, cabbage plants to third-grade teachers who have signed up for the program online (www.bonnieplants.com).
Launched in 2002, the program has caught on. Nebraska now has nearly 50 participating schools. And yet, it's the second year in a row the winner has come from Cozad Elementary School. Last year, Abby Thramer was the state's cabbage patch kid.
— Rhonda Stansberry
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