We did it! In a year where being together has been a challenge, to say the least, we were able to close out our year together with our first ever AIF Farm Tour!
Explaining all things magical hoop house.
As the world opened up just a bit more, we decided it was time to invite our community onto campus and share what we have been working on all year. The farm was a hot mess when we returned to campus in the fall, the result of minimal input for an entire season. The team has slowly plodded along with the reclaiming of our sweet little space and the result has made every achy muscle, muddy shoe, and dirty hand worth it. Grant funding has allowed us to build even more infrastructure into the farm, which allows us to be even more intentional and methodical about management. And the magical hoop house could not be kept a secret any longer!
Maps of our fields. We also shared a list of things in each bed…which changed by the next day because we are busy planting all the things!
Learning about our rain water catchment system as well as soil blocking.
The day of the event it poured the rain all…day…long….but, people still showed up and the skies cleared just in the nick of time. The AIF Team divided into small groups and our attendees rotated through each one of our four spaces- the hoop house, the water collection shed, the top field, and the lower field. The tour guides shared some of our history, processes and what we have in production right now. It was wonderful to see how the team, which has not had much time together this year outside of their cohorts, came together and were able to lead this event.
Overall, we had probably 50 or more people show up and that display of support was just what we needed to finish up our year together. In this year of different, it felt good to celebrate a success with our community!
We plan to have more of these events over the course of the season, so be on the lookout for more opportunities to come spend some time with us!