A week of digging, growing, and eating at the Village Farm! A reflection on week 1 by Eugene

1.    

(left to right) Chris, Suzie, Me, Kimberly, and Isabelle all triumphantly standing by our Garden.

There’s our team, look at how excited we all are! The enthusiasm we have for this farming is irradiating from our faces and rightfully so, as we delve down deeper into our operation to continue to provide healthy and nutritious vegetables for our entire school.

2.    

This is me (right), training some peas up a string so that they can grow tall and strong as they seek out the sun. Just look at all the amazing work we do here to keep a freshly sustainable garden!

3.    

But of course, there’s a lot of hard work that must be done first in order to make that creation! Chris and I spent almost the ENTIRE week just creating the rows for the flower beds, and we’re still not done!

Our efforts have finally paid off, that salad looks amazing! All our hard work and dedication into creating the components of this salad (right) is what brings full flavor to this delicious meal, which I’m sure we’ll be having many more times as the class goes on. As we have seen from week 1 the class spirit and motivation payoff as we farm here at Village School.

-Eugene

The Spring Farming Season Begins Early!

Welcome, back to the Village School Farm! We have broken ground on Monday March 19th! This early start was due in large part to the mild winter and early spring!
The Farming Course this spring is called "Microfarming"

The Microfarming Course is a ½ year Science/Practical Arts Elective Course at the Village School. The course will examine microfarming through authentic microfarming experiences (challenges) including, window farms, greenhouses, hoophouses, raised beds, container farming, and through traditional back-yard farming. To do this we will examine the basics of botany, organic agriculture, composting, the locavore movement, and the food habits of the United States consumer.

During the semester students will be working to build and maintain a sustainable Village School microfarm, both inside, outside and in-between! During these microfarming experiences we will record useful data and perform a variety of experiments. At the end of the semester students will present the results from their most scientifically significant experiment.  By the end of the course students will have learned how to maintain an efficient microfarm for aesthetics or as a supplementary fresh food source.

The large-scale goal is to produce enough produce for the graduation party in June, to donate to local foodbanks, and to sell at a Village School Farmers Market!

Stay tuned for student Blog entries about their gardening adventures!

-Toby