Downtown on the farm...

This year, we’ll strive to keep you updated with all of the comings and goings of plant, animal and human life on your urban teaching farm.

In winter, we plan. We’re creating our workshop schedules, planning for spring Good Food Day field trips, thinking ahead to themes for our three day Can You Dig It? summer camp, and writing grants to pay for it all. 

January frost damage on some Alabama Blue collards.

To plan a year in the garden, we start with what we want to harvest for our programs and when we’ll need it (every field trip harvests something!). Then we have to figure out where all of the plants are going to go! We try to wait at least three years before we plant a crop in a bed again. That combined with trying to time everything to be ready when you need it can make for some tricky planning! 

We just finished our sidewalk project with the help of an Eagle Scout candidate and the City of Montgomery. Now anyone can travel from the parking lot to the chicken coup without slogging through thick gravel. We are seriously excited about this sidewalk! 2019 was just the start of making the farm accessible. The task before us in 2020 is building accessible bathrooms. We want the port-a-potties to be a distant memory!

Another year end project was the construction of a new bee yard. Now, behind the chicken coop, we’ve added space for 12 bee hives.

Capital Tractor donated this Kabota to excavate for the sidewalk project.

And, yes, even in January, we are growing food. The heat and drought that lasted into late October meant a lot of our fall and winter vegetables were planted late. Warmer temperatures around the New Year helped them catch up. We’re harvesting kale, collards, mustard, salad mix, parsley and beets. Carrots, kohlrabi and cabbage will be ready soon. 

If you’re curious about what’s growing or want to lend a hand, stop by on February 8th at 8 am for our next Community Project. See you then!