By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

Texas students learned about turfgrass through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Farm From School program.

Once a month, kindergarten through fifth-grade students across the Lone Star State virtually “meet” with a farmer or rancher through Farm From School on a video conferencing app.

This month Caroline Krenek, a turfgrass farmer in Wharton County, taught the students all about growing and harvesting sod.

“Thousands of students across the state tuned into Farm From School to learn about turfgrass from Caroline,” Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director Organization Division, Educational Outreach, said. “Students learned about how turfgrass is grown, cared for and harvested to go to a home or sports field.”

Krenek and her family’s sod farm, Horizon Grass Farms, covers 5,000 acres. They have been farming since 1978.

They grow Bermudagrass, St. Augustine and Zoysia, among several other grass varieties.

The green grass can be found on lawns, golf courses, commercial areas or sports fields.

“The grass goes all over Texas. It could go to Home Depot, to Lowe’s, sports fields, commercial areas. Even a McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A can have this grass in their area,” she said.

Krenek explained the grasses they grow thrive during warm seasons.

“Since we do have warm season grasses, they live better in the warm season,” she told the students. “Once it gets cooler after the first frost, it’ll get really chilly, and the grass also gets cold. So, it just goes to sleep or goes dormant. And then once it gets warm again in the spring, it’ll green back up.”

During the 30-minute presentation, Krenek taught students how they take care of the sod.

“If the grass gets too tall, then it will get a lot of weeds. If you cut too much off, it’ll knock it down too much to where it damages it, and it’ll have a hard time growing back,” Krenek said. “That’s why it’s important to mow a lot. So, we try to mow at least once or twice a week out here because we have to keep the grass looking healthy for all of our customers.”

They use irrigation to water the sod on “turtlebacks,” fields that are designed with a perfect slope in the middle to create a hump-back and has two drain ditches on the end.

From there, they harvest the grass with a machine called a Firefly.

The students asked Krenek various questions about what happens after the sod is harvested to how long it survives on the pallets.

“Once the pallets get put onto the truck, then that truck has to make it as fast as it can to the place where it’s going. So, the grass will get planted right away, and it’ll be good whenever it’s planted,” Krenek said.

On a busy day, Krenek told the students they load up to 1,800 pallets.

Watch a video from Horizon Grass Farms.

More information about Farm From School

Sign up for the Spring 2025 program will open in October.

Click here for more information about the Farm From School program.

Visit texasfarmbureau.org/aitc for more information and the latest announcements on TFB’s Ag in the Classroom activities.