Though food is still plentiful, with only temporary and localized shortages, the threat of the COVID 19 crisis to the food supply is considerable. There is no evidence thus far that the disease can be transmitted via food or packaging (though the virus apparently remains viable on plastic for 2 to 4 days). The real…
People ask me “what is ‘adaptive agriculture’ after hearing I completed the Practicum program at the School of Adaptive Agriculture. For a long time my answer was a list of the things that the school teaches at its best (Holistic management, Resiliency, Theory blended with practicum, backyard engineering) , rearranged for a farmers context, so…
A month into the summer term, our six summer term students have settled into the routine of life on the farm. On an average day, they’re up and hard at work in our market garden by 6:30am helping our Garden Manager Joshua with harvest for the farmers markets, watering, weeding, trellising or putting together a…
Star Thistle. It’s everywhere this year in the back pasture of the Grange Farm School. We curse it as it pierces our legs and remains unpalatable to livestock once it goes to flower. Even with a crew of 8 digging the plant out, we make slow progress against the vast brambles of thistle. But on…
Pictures and Captions by Sarah Brady : June 2015 Practicum Student Grazing Cattle: Cattle grazing in the field between our sleeping and studying quarters and the grange crop/grazing field. Annual grasses (now dry having set seed already) include wild out (Avena fatua), ripgut brome (Bromus diandrus), hedgehog dogtail grass (Cynosurus echinatus), and some soft chess/brome (Bromus hordeaceus)….
We need you! Act now, sponsor a portion of our vegetable and fruit production to be donated to a local charity. Our goal is to support the next generation not only how to grow food, but how to be giving and supportive of our surrounding community! http://www.gofundme.com/sponsoraplot Website Facebook manager@grangefarmschool.org
Written by Rosie Gilchrist: June 2015 Practicum Student Mine is not a new story, not an uncommon story, not at all unique, yet despite this it seems necessary to tell it, to find space for my retelling. For it is a journey many are embarking on. Young, idealistic, enthusiastic, often theoretically educated, overwhelmed individuals are…
Written by Elisha Allgood : June 2015 Practicum Student My name is Elisha. I want to make a difference. I want to be part of the solution to all the problems of conventional agriculture, such as the heavy use of chemical fertilizers, toxic water runoff, and overall unsustainable practices. But as someone new to farming,…
The incredible accumulation of energy inputted into the 12 acres of Grange Farm School programming and growth finally culminated in a LAUNCH on June 1, 2015! One very short month has zipped by since welcoming of the new class of students; and boy have we been busy! In the first week we covered Ecology,…
Hello from Tim Ward! In the six months since I first stepped foot onto Ridgewood Ranch, where the Grange Farm School claims its happy home, I’ve had a strong feeling that I am in the right place at the right time. It was a very similar feeling when I landed in 2006 in a position…
