Eastie Farm’s Junior Farmers program, a partnership with Dante Alighieri and Sam Adams Elementary schools, is in full swing this summer! Students have been spending their afternoons with Eastie Farm staff, playing and learning about food, farming, ecology, and community. Our first week was all about food, with harvest parties at 294 Sumner St, field trips to the Rockies Urban Wilds orchard site, and cooking classes with Chef Monica.
In our second week, we started thinking about what our vegetable and fruit friends need to survive and thrive. What does our food “eat”? At Alighieri, we’ve weeded raised beds to prepare for planting – turns out it’s not always so easy to tell the weeds from the crops!
We’re turning our weeds into rich compost, making sure to retain as much energy and nutrition for the next generation of plants as possible. With our beds free of weeds, we’ve been able to plant basil, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, and peppers. We’ve even planted some flowers!
The drought conditions we’re experiencing are teaching us a lot about the importance of water – for us and the plants!
