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In celebration of Food Day and National Farm to School Month, Farmer Al visited the L.M. Nixon School in Palo Alto last Friday for a meet and greet. The school invited Frog Hollow so the children could have an opportunity to build a personal connection to where food comes from and those who grow it. The kids were excited to meet a modern day organic farmer and have a chance to make connections between the work they do in their school garden and the work that happens on the farm scale.
In the morning, Farmer Al met with 44 of the younger students in the school theatre where he told his story of becoming an organic farmer, what a day looks like at Frog Hollow, and named all of the different fruits and vegetables we are growing at the farm. The students had lots of good questions, including if he grows spaghetti.This was a great opportunity for him to explain a little bit about the process of growing wheat and how it is turned into spaghetti. The question was timely, since the kids will be planting wheat in their garden this week.
During recess Farmer Al joined Jessica Ferrell, CSA member and Health & Wellness PTA chair, and the noon garden club for some time in their garden. The children shared zucchini muffins from the zucchini they harvested the week before and chatted informally with Al. Following the snack of muffins and fresh Frog Hollow Farm fruit, Farmer Al was able to tour the garden with the kids and provide some advice and encouragement on all the great work they’ve been doing.
In the afternoon, Farmer Al visited Mr. Stevens’ fourth grade class where he sat on the floor with them while they fired away with the questions. They discussed the drought and how our compost operation is helping to preserve water in the soil and make our trees more resilient to stress. One boy wondered how Frog Hollow grows organically, so Al talked about our work to encourage beneficial insects and pollinators through habitat plantings and our owl and bat houses. Another girl wondered if Farmer Al’s daughters are able to roam the farm and eat as much fruit as they want.
We send our thanks to the L.M. Nixon School community for hosting our CSA and for inviting us to campus to share Food Day with them. It brings us all of on the farm great joy to be able to provide opportunities for children to learn more about sustainable agriculture and good food!
