MIAMI, OK — Through a nationwide vegetable growing project, 10-year-old Winni Hiebert learned how a few seeds could bring in a financial harvest.
A student at Nicholas Elementary School in Miami, OK, Winni grew a 20-pound cabbage and walked away with a $1,000 savings bond earmarked for her college education.
“I was so excited. Usually I don't win those kinds of contests,” Winni said. “I was really surprised.”
Each year, Bonnie Plants provides free OS Cross, or oversized cabbage seedlings, to third-grade students across the 48 continental states.
The program awards a $1,000 scholarship to one student in each participating state.
Winni received the seedling last spring. She didn't have a vegetable garden spot at her house, so her grandfather made a spot in his garden.
“I watered it and put a little fence around it so no rabbits would get to it,” Winni said.
She turned her award-winning cabbage into coleslaw, cabbage soup and cabbage rolls.
“I like cabbage,” Winni said. “It was a lot of fun and I like planting things.”
The program uses cabbages because they were the first production plant sold by Bonnie Plants in 1918, spokeswoman Joan Casanova said.
“The OS Cross plant produces giant oversized heads,” Casanova said. “It grows rapidly.”
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