Pictures from the end of the 10/11 school year

Below are just a few shots from the end of our school year last year.

For each farm visit, one or two students spent time journaling what happened at the farm that day.

This crew is working on laying down cardboard and wood chips to keep weeds off of the paths.

Another shot of our wood chip crew.

Weed whacking with hand tools.  Not an easy job!

Is this the world's biggest pile of weeds?

Or is this the world's biggest pile of weeds?

Stay tuned for more photos!

Farm Camp

It is an unfortunate fact that the more that is happening at the farm, the less time there is to post about it on the blog. This spring was a whirl of activity that included building flow forms, prepping beds for cover and summer crops, selling our early spring crops at the school farmer's market, harvesting the wheat, rye and garlic and planting pumpkins with the rising third grade. Now most everyone is off on vacation with rising third grade parents and a few regular summer volunteers caring for the garden over the summer.

Below I was hoping to share with you a picture of our Farm Summer Camp group. They have been braving the early morning heat to come out and weed, harvest and water for a short time before they head back to main campus to recover in the shade and avail themselves of the AC when the heat is unbearable. The last two days have had highs in the 100's. Any amount of time spent in the garden at these temperatures deserves a badge of honor! Unfortunately I can't share the pic because the computer I am using won't cooperate. Gotta love technology!

Cooking Blog

Interested in using fresh foods from the garden to cook up healthy meals from scratch?  You might check out the From Processed to Pure food blog by Donna Bauman.

Here is her self description in case you need a little information before you go and check out her blog:

I consider myself first generation holistic when it comes to food. I have no familial road map to guide me in my fascination with things fermented. For most of my life I ate without really paying attention to what was IN my food. In early adulthood I outsourced much of my nutrition to supermarket packaged goods and restaurants. The transformation back to the kitchen has many chapters. When I became a mother to four children I started to see how food choices could have a big impact on our quality of life. This motivated me to challenge everything and I started reading food labels. And along the way, when I least expected it, I fell in love. With real food. So much that the girl who took shop class instead of home economics in junior high as an act of civil disobedience became the woman who has now donned her apron not out of obligation but with pride and boundless enthusiasm. If we change our kitchens, we can change our world. I am honored to share some of this journey back to the kitchen with you!


Bon Appetit!

Mushroom workshop

If the earlier posts on 5th grade's adventure with Shiitake planting piqued your interest, you might check out one of the shiitake workshops at Pickards Mountain Eco-Institute in Chapel Hill, NC.  You have your choice of several possible times on March 26 and April 2 and you even get to bring home your own inoculated log.

March 16

Third grade has been getting into all aspects of composting.  They spent quite a bit of time over the winter sawing pieces of wood to the correct lengths so that we could build compost sifters.  We use the sifters at the very end of our composting process by rubbing the finished compost through the wire mesh to sift out any large pieces that didn't get broken down enough and to break up any big chunks.  The finished product is a lovely damp, soft, rich brown earth.  Below you can see them working on the final steps in building the sifters.

 When we start building our compost, we build layers of weeds, kitchen scraps and manure.  When the pile is large enough, we add biodynamic preps and put the pile to bed for around 6 months.  Here is a whole train of students bringing manure to our newest pile.

Last but not least, here is a group of students working with Kimani, one of our high school senior volunteers, to create a trellis for the peas.

One more mushroom picture

I forgot to include this pic in the piece about mushroom planting I did earlier.  This one gives a great overview of the whole project, from drilling to sealing with the wax.

March 7

The 9th grade work crew came out today.  When you can capture their attention and focus their power, they are a force to be reckoned with in the garden.

Here you can see some of them working on clearing out the area for our coming bee hives.

There was a tangle of brush to clear at one end of the area.

Here is another batch of fellows clearing off the old pile of dried weeds and carrying it over to the new compost pile.  

What with our renter, Sarah, boarding extra horses and a load of black gold (cow manure) from Minka Farm gathered by our own 3rd graders on Friday and delivered by Farmer Kimberly, we have plenty of nutritious "stuff" for this spring's compost pile.  The biodynamic compost preps will be arriving in early April and we'll have good compost just in time for fall bed prep if all goes well.