Crimson clover cover crop and a bee from Sole Food's Astoria site
at Hastings & Hawks, September 2012.
Friday, 27 December 2013
Thursday, 26 December 2013
We've Been Busy - An Update on our School Farm
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| Sungold and washington tomatoes. |
December has been nice.
I have spent the past month catching up from the growing season - catching up on sleep, catching up with friends, spending more time cooking and relaxing, more time with family.
I have spent the past month catching up from the growing season - catching up on sleep, catching up with friends, spending more time cooking and relaxing, more time with family.
The break also means looking back on what we've accomplished this season.
Some highlights:
- Our 6,000 square foot garden grossed $14,500 in sales this season (up from last year's $1,300). A substantial jump that I am super proud of.
- We grew 2,800 lbs of food which is deceptive since most of it was cut greens (hence the higher sales).
- We donated $1,600 worth of fresh produce to student volunteers, school cafeteria kitchens and drop in meal programs.
- My most favourite: we hired ten high school students who worked full time summer jobs farming and they were absolutely incredible. In July we had a massive heat wave and so started our days at 7 am. I'd roll up to the school at 6:30 in the morning to find a group of high school students ready to work. They did not miss a single day. They were committed to each other and to the project. They would talk to market shoppers about the flavour of patty pan squash and offer samples of sweet sungolds. They held each other accountable in community meetings and they shared what was going on in their lives. They supported each other and made each other laugh - making repetitive farm tasks fun to do. We sat down to weekly meals prepped from scratch in their cooking classes. They were absolutely remarkable.
- Our students also helped to establish a school rooftop garden at one of the high schools we work at this year. This incredible project was mainly accomplished by the other staff on my team - from designing the space, securing funding, building all the pieces and bringing it all together on site. I was in a real put-your-head-down-focus-on-production zone so wasn't much help with the installations. It's a 16,000 square foot space which now includes raised planters for vegetable production, a small fruiting orchard, 92 blueberry plants, shittake mushroom logs, a covered learning area and a classroom right off of the space. The students were a huge support in getting this project done this summer and I'm looking forward to growing lots more food next season as our production space increases.
Our story's been shared a few times too. You can read more here:
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