Weaver's+Way+Farm

toc = Weaver's Way Farm Community Service =

**Reflection**
Farm journal? Write in it monthly? Rainy days? Interview other farm volunteers? Photo journal - each week each kid is expected to post at least one photo with a caption and comment meaningfully on someone else's photo. ====Student Reflection Page 2009-2010 ====

Journal 2009-2010
====@Student Reflection 2010-2011 ====

Journal 2010-2011
Photos 2010-2011

Knowledge
Students participating in the Weaver's Way Farm Community Service will learn about growing food, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and community supported agriculture (CSA). In addition to the more obvious issues related to organic farming - such as pesticides, genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), and chemical fertilizers - students at Weaver's Way will also learn about the economic, political, and social issues surrounding conventional agriculture. Students will also consider the benefits and challenges of locally grown food.

Service
Every Wednesday afternoon during Crefeld's regularly scheduled community service slot, students will visit the Weaver's Way Farm in Germantown to work hands-on with whatever activities the volunteer coordinator has scheduled for the day. These usually revolve around the day-to-day chores of maintaining a farm, as well as preparing and planning for future plantings and growth. During the colder months, students may stay at Crefeld to work on miscellaneous tasks, such as painting garden signs. Students may also use this time for related research, outreach, and networking.

Empowerment
Many people rarely consider the origins of their food. We encourage students to explore this topic by directly participating in the process of growing food. We have had several students and staff who planted their own gardens with plant donations from the farm. Others have been inspired to try new produce and food they wouldn't ordinarily have tasted. Ideally, we would like our students to realize what is possible in a community through organizing, cooperating, collaborating, and considering alternative ways of contributing to the GNP in ways that are healthy, productive, and sustainable.

Part II - Activities

 * 1) Hands-on farm work
 * 2) Journaling monthly and/or collaborative Photo Journal weekly
 * 3) Interview other farm volunteers/workers (see Interview Question Sheet)
 * 4) Become familiar with the Farm website, including watching 10 min documentary, becoming familiar with crops, harvest schedule, typical items needed, etc.    
 * 5) Develop 5-10 minute presentations on an organic farming topic or sustainable agriculture topic using resources below. Students may give these presentations to the whole school or to visiting groups at Weaver's Way or at a youth farming conference or workshop.
 * 6) Each student must add resources to Part III below based on their research
 * 7) Each student interview and connect with a student from Saul High School (or Henry School) who also works with The Farm
 * 8) Current Events - once a month/quarter students will present a current events article related to any of the topics listed below under Resources

>> Norman Borlaug, Plant Scientist Who Fought Famine, Dies at 95 >> A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Borlaug developed high-yielding crop varieties that helped to avert famines worldwide. >> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/ 09/14/business/energy- environment/14borlaug.html
 * 1) Weaver's Way Farm website http://weaversway.coop/index.php?page=the_farm
 * 2) Sample farm blog http://straightfromthefarm.net/the-garden-and-farm/
 * 3) Primer on sustainable agriculture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_agriculture
 * 4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming
 * 5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sustainable_agriculture_topics
 * 6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture http://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/
 * 7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organic_gardening_and_farming_topics
 * 8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture
 * 9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_food
 * 10) Video: National Cooperative Grocer's Association http://www.ncga.coop/about/coops
 * 11) Gerald Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" 3 hr documentary about the origins of agriculture and industrial society, including the slave trade in Africa
 * 12) Omnivore's Dilemma documentary coming out
 * 13) Soil health
 * 14) Monocrops
 * 15) Agribusiness - petroleum based farming
 * 16) The Green Revolution from the 1960's about using pesticides, chemicals to wipe out hunger (FAILURE)
 * From The New York Times:
 * 1) The Edible City documentary coming out next year - on 5 urban farmers in the East Bay (including Jim)
 * 2) Barcelona video with Mateo talking about Green Faerie Farms
 * 3) Cuba under The Embargo --> organic farming and re-tooling all their farms and increased urban farming
 * 4) Weaver's Way opening in additional locations, including neighborhoods traditionally without access to healthy food and produce, especially organic food. Research the social, economic, and political forces that created and perpetuate this nutritional injustice.
 * 5) The Meatrix: http://www.themeatrix1.com/

Possible subtopics for Resources: Issues - CSA, locavore, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), native pollinators, monocrops vs crop rotation, soil health, GMOs, permaculture, companion plantings, government subsidies, CORN, Plants Demonstration farms and gardens Nutrition & Health Business - running a farm, economics of it, training, financing, etc Videos:
 * ~ VIDEO ||~ TLA? ||~ Netflix DVD? ||~ Netflix Instant? ||~ Link || Full Video/Clip ||
 * < King Corn ||< N ||<  ||< Y ||< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiCRwMMh9k8 || Clip ||
 * Supersize Me || Y ||  || Y || http://www.hulu.com/watch/63283/super-size-me || Full ||
 * The Milagro Beanfield War || N ||  || Y || http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jy0q5z8Wk&feature=youtube_gdata || Clip ||
 * Food Inc (film of The Omnivore's Dilemma) ||  || 11/3/09 ||   || http://www.hulu.com/watch/70823/movie-trailers-food-inc || Clip ||
 * < Troublesome Creek ||< N ||< Y ||<  ||< N || None ||
 * < Fast Food Nation ||< Y ||< Y ||<  ||< http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/fast-food-nation/trailer || Clip ||
 * Weavers Way || N || N || N || http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmbjWRu0dSE || Full ||
 * Vertical Farming || N || N || N || http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3et2L2m4k0 || Full ||
 * Meatrix || N || Y || N || http://www.themeatrix1.com/ || Full ||


 * The Meatrix.[[image:http://www.clipartguide.com/_thumbs/0008-0805-2916-3650.jpg width="117" height="126"]]Steak-Man **

media type="custom" key="5117875"


 * __Farm Videos 2009-2010__**


 * media type="file" key="Weaver's way farm. with the crefeld school.mp4" width="300" height="300" ||  ||

__**Pictures from 2008-2009**__

 * [[image:Weaver's_Way_Farm_2008-2009_Album-10.jpg]] || [[image:Weaver's_Way_Farm_2008-2009_Album-1.jpg]][[image:Weaver's_Way_Farm_2008-2009_Album-12.jpg]] ||  ||
 * || //PICKING BASEL!// ||  ||
 * [[image:Brook_Eli_Carter_greens.jpg]] || [[image:Brooke_Jade_drainage.jpg width="477" height="638"]] ||  ||
 * //In the picture above, we are getting/cutting salad mix grown from the ground (duh). To get this perfectly good to sell, we have to get a cool knife that is a flat, long, straight knife that cuts a lot at one time, and cut about halfway off the salad leaves. Then we get clean buckets, and put all the salad leaves in there, then take them to the washing station, where we put the leaves in a tub of water and then put them in a HUGE, orange salad spinner. It is not like the ones at target that you buy that have a little button you push over and over again to make it spin, you have to crank that thing. It is hard to spin, and when it does spin, it shakes a lot so you have to have another person hold the spinner. Did I mention it was HUGE? Then after the washing is done, we bag them at 27 oz each bag. then label the bags and we are done.//[[image:Bunched_carrots.jpg]] || [[image:Bryce_mulch.jpg width="690" height="495"]] ||  ||
 * //IN THE PICTURE THE CARROTS ARE WASHED AND SAFE TO EAT!// ||~  ||   ||
 * [[image:Carter_praying_mantis.jpg]] || [[image:Clean_carrots.jpg width="488" height="639"]] ||  ||
 * || //AREN'T THEY PRETTY?!// ||  ||
 * [[image:Clean_radishes.jpg]] || [[image:Compost_w_plants.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:David_washing_carrots.jpg]] || [[image:Dirty_carrots_more.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Dirty_carrots.jpg]] || [[image:Ground_cherries_Malachi's_hand.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Group_eating_carrots.jpg]] || [[image:Group_harvesting_greens.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Group_in_circle.jpg]] || [[image:Group_salt_hay.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Ishara_Bryce_in_compost.jpg]] || [[image:Leo_warming_hands_in_compost.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Leo_water_pump.jpg]] || [[image:Mal_Bry_washing_carrots.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Mal_Bry_washing_carrots.jpg]] || [[image:Praying_mantis_closeup.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:Salad_greens.jpg]] || [[image:Shuttle_newspaper_n_kids.jpg]] ||  ||
 * [[image:wheelbarrow_n_shelter.jpg]] ||  ||   ||