Monroe fourth grader wins scholarship for growing 9-pound cabbage

Swartz Upper Elementary School fourth grader Emma Vidrine knows her way around the garden. After bringing home a newly sprouted cabbage at the end of last school year, she transformed the small plant into a state-award-winning, 9-pound leafy prize.

As a third grader, Emma, alongside her classmates, received a cabbage transplant to take home and grow on their own as part of the Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program. The program, which spans 48 states, gives third graders cabbages to cultivate themselves. This year, almost 200,000 third graders across the country participated in the program.

"I was shocked, like I knew that her cabbage was big, but I was really shocked that she won for the whole state," said Heather Vidrine, Emma's mother and second grade teacher at Swartz Lower Elementary School.

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By the end of the program, students submit photos of their cabbages, and teachers from each participating class pick the best cabbage, looking at size and appearance. The chosen students are then added to a random statewide drawing, where the Office of the Commission of Agriculture then selects a winner.

“We relaunched the 3rd Grade Cabbage Program in the spring as a safe, remote-friendly learning activity to inspire children of all backgrounds to grow a love of gardening,” said Mike Sutterer, president and CEO of Bonnie Plants. “After pausing the program last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re thrilled to once again see so many students were able to participate and learn the basics of gardening as well as life lessons like responsibility, self-confidence and accomplishment."

For Louisiana, that winner was Emma. In addition to her "Best in State" title, the fourth grader received a $1,000 scholarship.

"I am so excited," Emma said. "I was so happy when I heard about it that I almost screamed."

Emma said she helped sprout her cabbage alongside her dad, Seth Vidrine, owner of Bayou Life Taxidermy. Seth said he has been gardening since college and began sharing that skill with his family. Currently, the Vidrine family also grows kale, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and squash, and they own several chickens and three rabbits.

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When Emma brought home her cabbage transplant, she said she put it in a large bucket filled with peat, moss, compost and rabbit droppings. Even though there was fecal matter in the mix, Emma said she put on a brave face and dug out a hole for the cabbage with her hands and buried it in its new home. From there, she gave it lots of sunlight and watered it every day after school before eating her daily snack.

From the middle of spring through roughly November, the cabbage grew from having just three leaves to being 9 pounds.

"I'm very proud of her accomplishment," Seth Vidrine said. "I think she has a green thumb like I do."

After submitting photos of the cabbage for the program, the Vidrine family took apart the cabbage. Part of it was boiled; another portion was canned for sauerkraut. The rest was given to the chickens. Emma said her family ate boiled cabbage for an entire day.

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"I held it — it was so heavy," Emma said. "And the reason why we only ate it for one day is because my mom does not like cabbage."

"I'm not a huge cabbage person," Heather said.

Heathersaid gardening has been a wonderful experience for her children. It has taught them to be self sufficient, and it has helped her children refrain from being glued to technology all the time.

"They come home from school, and they want to help their dad in the garden and feed the chickens and stuff," Heather Vidrine said. "So I really like that they're getting that experience."

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Emma said she hopes to continue gardening, and already has her eyes set on the future. When the fourth grader grows up, she said wants to have land to grow vegetables, regardless of if she lives in a house or has a life on the road. She's also wanting to build a restaurant of her own.

"I might live in a car, I don't know yet," Emma said. "I'm going to have a restaurant when I grow up, and I'm looking for places right now. If I do not live in a car, I am going to have a house and have a humungous garden and plant stuff, grow it and then give it out to homeless people that don't have food."

Follow Sabrina LeBoeuf on Twitter @_sabrinakaye and on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3B8sgHo.

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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Emma Vidrine wins scholarship for growing gigantic cabbage