Spring Beauty on the Farm
Greetings, school farmily! Spring is greening up every corner of our school farm sites, and we have the allergies and the soil-stained hands to prove it. From crops that overwintered to hardy spring greens, students have been busy growing and learning and eating well from the farm.
Elementary students in Kindergarten, second, and fifth grades have been coming out weekly since January during their Library/Farm related arts. While our youngest farm helpers learned the basics of sowing seeds and safely handling tools, older students worked to clear out winter cover crop, sift our homegrown compost, and prepare the beds for spring veggies. Creating our special blend of soil for the greenhouse is a favorite amongst our farm friends, and they used it to fill trays with seeds for spring and summer, including beautiful flowers that will carry us through till fall. And classes across grade levels and campuses signed up for chore and harvest shifts, which included everything from orchard care and weeding to picking green garlic, arugula, collards, mustards, kale, radish, herbs and more. Now that strawberries are rolling in–the delicious fruits from our labor at a farm community workday back in October–the excitement is palpable. Students will continue supporting the farm through the end of the school year, with classes coming out for chore shifts and brain breaks around the spring testing schedule. Fresh air, sunshine, and movement in community with others is often just what we need to remain grounded in our bodies and stay focused for our work in the building.
With that said, summer break is quickly approaching and we would love to see you and your students on the farm in June or July. Most of what we harvest in the summer is donated to local organizations working on food security in our community, with the exception of the goodies that go home with farm volunteers. So come on out as a family, drop off your rising first-eighth graders (on select Wednesdays), or join for some solo time with your school farm community, and take home summer veggies, herbs, and berries of all kinds. Please sign up here to let us know when you’re coming!
We may sound like a broken record at times, but working and learning alongside your bright, kind, curious, hilarious kiddos is such a joy! They keep us grounded, humble, and on our toes; they make us think, laugh, and cry, and we are so incredibly grateful for the long days and swift years that we get to spend with them. Wishing us all well as we move through these last few weeks of the school year!
Nichole Lupo
Nichole joined the ANCS faculty in the Fall of 2021 as the School Farm Specialist. Prior to coming to ANCS she worked at the Wylde Center as the Farm to School Manager, where she taught students in City Schools of Decatur in their garden classrooms, implemented two district-wide taste tests each year, and managed high school summer interns at farms, restaurants, and farmers markets around Decatur and Atlanta.
