Farm and Schools Blog

What a great day at the garden!!!!  I know it is the middle of winter but I was out at the garden shovelling; that is until Doug showed up with the Kabota and pushed the snow away...Thanks Doug! What a great guy to drop everything and help me.  Why did he need to help me right then, you ask?  Well, the 15 tons of crushed rock was going to be coming any minute thanks to Mike Eller and his great dump truck.  I asked Mike if he would donate an Eller Corp. dump truck and two hours later I had twice the amount of crushed rock I was expecting from Central Premix.  AND the crushed rock was donated by Central Premix!!!!!  Oh, man can life get any better? 

Yes!  The crushed rock is for the foundation of the shed that Is being built by our magnificient shop students.  I stood on the shed floor today and you could drive a car on it, it was so sturdy!  I am so excited about this year's garden!

The Garden is in hibernation, but plans are being made for next season. One idea that could be beneficial to everyone is a seed exchange. For example: if you don't want to plant a whole package of Zucchini, and are willing to trade for some cucumber; come to the High School early in the spring (date to be announced at a later time) and trade your seeds with other gardeners! Spring will be here before you know it! Have a lovely winter!

Hi All,

After the last shipment of potatoes was picked up last week, I have the final numbers for pounds of produce harvested from the district crops at the farm. The totals are fairly close but not exact.

The district kitchens received about 2,000 lbs of produce in the form of squash, beets, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, endive, lettuce and a few other items that were small in number.

Second Harvest received about 1,925 lbs of the same produce as well as turnips and parsnips.

Not a bad harvest!  It is exciting to think that another 2 acres will be planted next year.  The raised beds are already being reserved for next year.  Eldon Jons and another wonderful farmer, Ivan Englehardt will be plowing the field soon so if you haven’t cleaned out your bed, do so and throw your dead plants out in the field ASAP.

The wheat threshing was a huge success at Skyview and CCS.  The pancakes we made from the wheat were cooked in about 6 minutes and according to our tasters Tom and Cherie, the pancakes weren’t bad.  Tom said they tasted better than what the Marines served during WWII.  If you would like your school to have a demonstration of the thresher, please let me know and we can set something up.

The assembly was made so fantastic by the three Masai tribe members who put on quite a show. (See attached photo) Mario and “Good Morning”, the warriors, thought the thresher was very interesting and Joyce was very gracious in our praise of her beadwork.  Another demonstration was put on that same evening at the high school and the carnival attendees were treated to a conga line of sorts with the Masai singing a song and gathering students to join them through the halls and commons. 

Plans are being made and I am making changes that will benefit our outcome for next year.  If you have any suggestions, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. 

Thank you for all your hard work and support!  I have no doubt that years from now this garden will be a legacy that our community will treasure.

Until spring…

Lynette

The garden has been given all the manure it wants and needs.  What a great thing as the field is so nutrient starved!  The only catch is we have to haul it from Clayton (about 40 miles away).  WE NEED DUMP TRUCKS!  If anyone can volunteer a dump truck or two or has someone I can talk to about getting trucks, please let me know!!!!  momromney@earthlink.net

With the help of University of Idaho Nutrition Sciences students, we harvested another 810 lbs of tomatoes, green and ripe. With 34 degrees forecasted for Monday night, it seemed like a wise decision to pull them all while the help was available. Watch, we are going to get great weather all of a sudden! This brings our two major harvests to 1,730 lbs! wow.