Summer 1994 (v6n3)
Arcata Farm and Education Project
by Gail
Feenstra, SAREP
Nestled in the lush evergreens
of California's north coast lies a tiny farm that is making a big impact
on the lives of people in the surrounding community. Janet Czarnecki,
education and outreach coordinator for the Arcata Farm and Education Project,
is excited about the new connections the project has made with the Arcata
community since mid-1993. The Arcata Project, funded by SAREP in two grants
totaling approximately $26,000 from 1992-1994, is a student-operated,
community supported farm designed to serve as a sustainable agriculture
educational facility for students, community members and farmers. It has
served as an innovative model of community education about sustainable
agriculture in Arcata.
CSA Begins
The project's most recent development has been the initiation of a new CSA-a community supported agriculture project or a "subscription farm"-on the project's 2 1/2 acre farm. (In CSAs, farmers sell directly to a consumers who agree to buy "shares" in the farmer's harvest in advance- see "Small Farmers Jam Subscription' Farming Conference, page 4.) The CSA started in October 1993 with ten 10-week shares and 15 shareholders. This core group enthusiastically supported the CSA through the fall by sharing recipes, writing newsletters and organizing potlucks. The CSA members also enjoyed an additional "soup share" for the month of January: They were invited to the farm to pick any root crops, cabbages and greens (kale, chard) for a donation. In that manner the extra crops in the fields were used instead of being composted, and members were able to maintain their connection with the farm. The spring summer CSA season began in late spring (after the "mud and floating gardens" subsided) and will run until September or October Czarnecki says the Arcata Farm CSA will expand to 20 to 40 shareholders at that time. Community support has been enthusiastic and essential for the success of the Arcata Farm project in all of its outreach activities, she notes.
University Classes
In addition to being the
site of the CSA, the Arcata Farm is also the location of California State
University, Humboldt's sustainable agriculture classes, coordinated by
farm director Susan Toms. The lecture and field work class as well
as a field practicum taught by Jon McNally and Andrew Rahn,
are extremely popular and successful with the students, according to Toms.
The Arcata Farm and Education
Project and the City of Arcata cooperate to produce public composting
workshops. Additionally, Arcata Farm personnel work with Deborah Giraud,
UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor, to teach community classes including
winter gardening, strawberry culture and spring topics.
Czarnecki has been working with teachers and students at the Sunnybrae Middle School, a public school, and Equinox, a local private school, to develop lessons about sustainable agriculture for the science curriculum. She leads both classroom activities and outdoor experiences to teach the children about the health of the soil, compost building, cover cropping, and local food production. Some of the classes take place at the Arcata Farm, located across the creek from the Sunnybrae Middle School. She is also developing school gardens at both sites.
Hmong Poultry Project
In addition to community
gardeners, university students and school children, the Arcata Farm is
also used by a community of Hmong refugees. The Hmong are developing a
special poultry project in which they will build a traditional Hmong-style
poultry house for Asian chickens. They are using a small plot of land
for the poultry house and for growing varieties of Asian vegetables for
their families. People at the Arcata Farm look forward to sharing culturally
diverse farming techniques and different foods.
The Arcata Project has given many different people in the community the opportunity to learn about sustainable agriculture and is directly connecting people with their food supply. It is a wonderful model for other communities interested in building community around sustainable agriculture.
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