Starting and Sustaining School Gardens

Teacher Training Intensive

Saturday March 19th, 2011

9AM-3PM

Register Online

$15 includes materials and lunch

Friends Academy

1088 Tucker Road

Dartmouth, MA 02747

For School Garden Facilitators at Every Level of Experience

Beginning, Intermediate, and Experienced

Download the Flyer

Led by Steve Walach, Friends Academy & Derek Christianson, Brix Bounty Farm

Course Overview

The workshop will feature a variety of gardening basics: composting, seeding, transplanting, harvesting, plot design, planting schedules, mineral amendments, soil management and soil testing. Special attention will be paid to concerns germane to school gardeners, like administrative support, student involvement/management, curricular relevance, budgeting and what to do about summer vacation.

The first half of the morning schedule will consist of demonstrations, slide shows and discussions. Then, before lunch you will have an opportunity to get a jump on the growing season in a hands-on way. We will supply industry-standard trays and high-quality starting mixes plus seeds for a variety of spring crops. You will seed two, 98 cell, durable plastic trays and take them home with you – a practical way to get ready for your traditional mid-April transplanting. Or, you can seed one tray yourself and take a second tray back for your students.

In the afternoon, hands-on demonstrations of useful, kid-friendly tools and seeding/transplanting methods will be held in the Friends Academy garden, a site that last year produced more than four thousand pounds of vegetables for a nearby food pantry.

Professional Development Points will be available for attendees who complete the additional/required four hours of course-prescribed work, which can be easily accomplished by simply following through with the stated goals of starting or maintaining a school garden.

We have yet to see the peak of reporting on world food prices for the year; as commodity markets seem poised to make some big runs in the coming months.  I have little doubt that global food prices and the “coming crisis” will be a major news story for 2011.

I wanted to share with folks a couple of great minds contributing varying perspectives on the issue:

• Lester Brown, author and researcher, added an update to his book Plan B, with an essay The Great Food Crisis of 2011 on Jan 14, 2011

• Paul Krugman, economist & NY Times columnist, penned Droughts, Floods, and Food published on Feb 7, 2011.

• Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of Food First/Institute for Food & Development Policy joins William Black and Mark Schapiro in a radio program answering “How Does Speculation Affect the Economy”, January 2011.

The Financial Times offers a variety of more traditional economic analysis, in their in depth reporting, the Rising Cost of Food.

Finally, for those interested in consistent coverage of global agricultural commodity markets I would recommend visiting Nogger’s Blog:  Grain Markets from a Different Perspective.

10 Reasons Why a Brix Bounty Farm CSA Membership May Be Right For You

A Series Written and Published by Brix Bounty Farm – Winter & Spring 2010/2011
(“10 Reasons Why” Series Archive)

Reason #2 – Convenience – Farmer’s Markets Aren’t Always Convenient

by Derek Christianson

When we established our CSA in 2010 we set out to expand the opportunity for our community to access fresh produce.  We decided on hosting CSA distributions on Monday and Friday to serve two slightly different populations:  the folks who like to do their grocery shopping at the beginning of the week and cook throughout the workweek and the folks who find more time to focus on fresh vegetables and home prepared meals on the weekend.

By offering a window from 2PM-7PM for share pickup we aim to make CSA pickup convenient for a wide variety of community members and lifestyles, from the mom who picks their kids up from school in the afternoon and want to share the CSA experience with their children to the commuter who may work in Providence but live in Dartmouth and arrives just before 7 to collect their share.

One of the greatest advantages of CSA membership is that is provides you with access to the best quality produce no matter what time of day you pick up your share.  On distribution day we harvest extra shares; so even if you are the last person to pickup you get to choose from a selection of veggies.  In contrast some customers with busy schedules often find arriving at a farmers’ market just before it closes doesn’t provide access to the best variety.

Picking up your veggies each week can be a joyous task.  We invite you to experience the farm; spend time in our new pick your own patch, visit with other members, and help build a community centered around nutritious food.  Whether you live or work in our community; we hope you’ll consider adding a stop at Brix Bounty Farm to pick up your CSA share to your weekly schedule.