2.22.19 Quaker Farmy Friday Newsletter

Welcome! This weekly newsletter is a platform through which Alum, current students and community members, and folks interested in Earlham or our program can stay up to date with the goings-on at Miller Farm.

Moving forward, these updates will recap only a week’s worth of info -- but for now, let’s look back at what’s been going on since students returned to campus and the farm in January.

The Tuesday before classes began, the Environmental Leadership Program - of which Miller Farm is a part - hosted a retreat for all of their students and staff, providing an opportunity to learn from each other, promote big events, plan our semesters, connect and collaborate, and catch up. We welcomed three new staff members to the team - Eva, Levi, and Saskia - who join Nathaniel, Paolo, and farm manager Tony as a core group of people making the farm chug along. We sat together, discussing and dreaming (and doing some deciding) about grand schemes, projects for this year, how to get more people involved, and the future of the farm.

Paolo works in the high tunnel.

Now in our 6th week of classes, we’re looking back on 5 successful Saturday farm day events. As we await the thawing of ground and co-operative weather conditions, we plan our farm days around indoor activities. Namely - sign making! We now have fresh and funky signs for most of our compost bins and various sights around the farm. Between 5 and 15 people have attended every week, and we hope to keep attendance up as the weather warms.

New signs painted at Farm Day.

Tony, our Farm Manager, was welcomed back on Wednesday from a week-long vacation in Jamaica to visit his mother. No rest for farmers, though, as he turned right around to attend the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association conference in Dayton, OH.

While he was off making connections there, those of us on campus for Early-Semester break had the pleasure of being involved in the Midwest Outdoor Leadership Conference (MWOLC) which Earlham students Morgan Bailey and Jordan Lehman organized and brought to our campus. As part of the event, Paolo gave a farm tour and recruited helping hands to thin out our kale starters and transplant mustard seedlings.

Photos from the farm tour and work session during MWOLC.

The Miller Farm practicum course, taught this semester by Nathaniel and Paolo, meets on Wednesday afternoons. The group is focused so far on contemplative practices, dreaming up ideal farm designs, discussing articles and videos, and researching plants chosen on the first class day that we will follow through as the semester unfolds. Each student has picked one plant which will be implemented at the farm if it is not present already, hopefully in ways where the plants can support each other. Keep an eye out for all sorts of treats - spearmint, amaranth, persimmon, asparagus, zinnias....

Yesterday, our weekly farm meeting at Rose City brought together 7 people to plan our next Farm Day and think more about our Quaker Natural Farming/ Eco Spirituality conference planned for late April. Discussions centered around strengthening connections with Amigos and Bonner Scholars, fixing our wind-blown fence, hoping with all hope that our water access is restored soon, brainstorming income-generating projects, and envisioning stronger involvement from Fry House members. Hopes for a May Term program continue in our minds. Dreams of a Dennis rooftop endeavor were sparked. We also officially added three staff members to the team, Caleb, Evan, and Kofi.

Tomorrow, we are hosting our first outdoor farm day of 2019 as long as the weather cooperates. The high tunnel continues to provide warmth for the winter greens and starters we have there, and the outdoor spaces continue to adapt and shift as the winter continues to be wet and the temperatures keep fluctuating. We might get a chance to hang the signs we’ve worked so hard to sand, shape, prime, and paint!

As we look ahead, we continue to plan and prepare for a labyrinth on the south edge of the property, our growing food forest, and maybe (finally) some animals again! Aside from the freaky humans traipsing around, of course...

Tony has ordered a Wildlife packet of trees, which will bring Black Cherry, Chinkapin Oak, Elderberry, Hazelnut, Gray Dogwood, Pawpaw, Persimmon, Red Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Washington Hawthorn, Black Chokeberry, and Ohio Buckeye to the farm. Some students in the practicum course have visions of an herb spiral floating around in their minds, while others are excited by the possibilities the natural farming plot offers. In any case, Miller Farm has got a lot coming your way!