Flowers Blooming In The Winter

Moss Haven is so lucky to have a fabulous art teacher on staff. Being a big fan of our farm and beautiful flowers, she gets her art students out on the farm on a regular basis. They bring their art into the building where we get to benefit from the beauty of flowers still blooming through the winter. It keeps our farmers looking forward to the beauty of springtime flowers to come. Enjoy our art! Spring is right around the corner!

National Day Of Service At Moss Haven Farm

On Saturday January 19th, Moss Haven Farm provided the community with a service opportunity in support of the National Day Of Service.  This day calls for Americans to work together and give their time to help out in their communities. President Obama initiated this event in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, who gave his time to others in so many ways.

We had a great turnout. Throughout the day, over 100 volunteers moved mulch, a mountain of dirt, reconfigured our compost system, planted flowers and cleaned out our barn. 

The National Day Of Service was a great farm event and reminded me why I choose to live in this community. We have the best families and so much support! We really couldn't do without it. Thanks so much for giving up your Saturday to support our farm!

Whistling With Acorns

You never really know what lessons will be learned out on the farm and this week we learned a fun one. While the farm team was surveying the farm to decide how to spend our afternoon, a student walked by making a high pitched sound. Being as curious as the kids, I stopped him immediately to find out how he was producing that sound. He happily shared his skill and showed us how to make acorn whistles.


First, you find an uncracked acorn cap.
Next, you put your thumbs together side by side.
Then you turn your thumbs inward, towards each other to make a small v-shape and place your thumbs tighly on the acorn cap.

The last step is to press your lips to your thumb knuckles and blow.
Tada..., an acorn whistle.

The farm is such a fun place. One never knows what random knowledge they will walk away with.

We Couldn't Do It Without Our Farmers!

The Farm Team at Moss Haven is not about after school entertainment for kiddos. It is about kids doing meaningful work that is important in keeping our farm running and growing. It is about empowering students to care for, manage and tend our crops, grounds and equipment. The students make plans and decisions based on what they know or what they think may happen next. The farmers at Moss Haven are learning about the land, the weather patterns, growing conditions and what they need to do to manage what it takes to grow and harvest our produce and flowers. They work together and use team work to get the jobs done.

I am not an expert gardener. I am merely a guide on 

the side, teaching kids the love of dirt, worms, flowers and veggie crops. When people comment about how much work it must be on my part, I never take the credit for it. It really belongs to the kids and is run by the kids. I am just a lucky farmer that gets to be a part of a special plot of land in back of our school.

Harvest Our Seeds

When the first frost hit our farm, it really changed the look of the land. The kids immediately took notice and as we pulled out the dead stalks and plants, they really could see what the weather did to our beds. I had to explain to my farm friends that the freeze cycle is part of the process. It gives farmers a little break so that they can regroup and plan for the next growing season. Tools need organized and repaired. The soil needs to be turned and ammended with organic material from the compost and then plans need to be made about what to plant and where.

We had such a great harvest this year which gave us not only veggies and flowers, it also produced many seeds as well. We dead headed flowers, separated the seeds and labeled them in bags so that we can use this  Spring. Our seeds are a great product from the farm. They will give us a jump start on our planning and planting.

Our activities this winter will be focussed on prepping and planning. The kids have such great input and I love hearing about their ideas as well. The more we grow, the more they know.

 E I E I O..., Watch us keep growing!