Practice of Sustainable Agriculture

September - December, 2010



In September I began the Practice of Sustainable Agriculture Program. This program was the original reason I moved here in the first place. It is an intense program requiring a lot of time and dedication but it is the perfect finish to my sustainability and environmental studies because it incorporates all the elements of ecology and environmental sustainability in the most crucial of real world scenarios - the production of soil and the food that grows there.

October was a flurry of activity as we harvested the crops and prepared them for our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and our small but excellent Farm Stand

In October we visited Burnt Ridge Nursery and were treated to a day long tour and talk by the owner, Mike Dolan, covering every aspect of orchard fruit and nut production.

PSA team members gather around Dolan's market van as he goes over the finer points of fruit and nut harvest and marketing.















A member of the Wendell Berry Community Garden treated us to a seed-saving workshop at the Harvest Festival in October

November, 2010. PSA pays a visit to Nash's Farm. Here Vanessa Hoy
demonstrates the size of their windrow compost turning machine.

Curious pigs run out to see us
during our tour of Nash's Farm.

The  Washington Tilth Conference
took place in
November so we all took our tents and
tarps and camped out at Fort Worden State Park.
I was pretty
impressed with my
classmates.

On previous
trips like this
in other
programs
only a few
of us camped
out.

My little
tent is on
the right.
I was happy
to be able
to use it
again.

One ongoing task throughout the year is to make high quality organic compost to continue to improve our soils fertility. We do it the old fashioned way - one wheelbarrow at a time.

The Farm Office.

The sun breaks through during the afternoon work.