Woodland student wins state award with colossal cabbage

Woodland — The colossal, 40-pound cabbage grown by Jael Clark, a third-grade student in Melissa Sanders’ class at Woodland Primary School, was selected as Washington’s winner in the National Bonnie Plants Cabbage program. Clark will receive a $1,000 savings bond toward her education. She was randomly chosen as the state’s winner by Washington’s agriculture commissioner. Clark was among more than 1.5 million third graders in 48 states including 12,131 in Washington who dug in and got hands-on gardening experience through the program, which also teaches kids the importance of food systems and growing their own food. Each year Bonnie Plants trucks free cabbage plants to third-grade classrooms for teachers that signed up for the program. Cabbages were the first plant sold by Bonnie Plants in 1918. The cabbage species used in the program, OS Cross, produces oversized heads, making the process more exciting for kids. With proper care, kids can grow humongous cabbages, some tipping the scales at 40 pounds.