ECOFARM 2017

Wow, the first month of 2017 has been eventful! The Wayside Farm School Team has restructured its educational format to pilot a program that provides Farm-Based Education to a larger number of students, and it is running beautifully. We have moved to new fields which increased our growing area five-fold, and our compost program is finally getting back on track thanks to our new Instructor—Miss Owens. Finally, three of us were able to attend the 37th Annual EcoFarm Conference and our minds were blown by the tremendous experience.

We want to thank everyone we came into contact with at the conference because all of you nourished our heads, warmed our hearts and revived our spirits. The dinner table networking was worth the nearly 5-hour drive, and the food was outstanding. The mixers we attended highlighted the great work the ecological agriculture movement is doing and made us proud to be a part of it. The evening entertainment was excellent and the groovy band “Orgone” from LA represented the Southland nicely.

In particular, we want to thank the 40 plus people who attended our presentation and discussion group. Your hard-hitting questions and deep conversation reassured us that our program is both important and on the right track.

Thanks to the many exhibitors and vendors who shared their quality information and products. Some of you were more than generous (Organic Ag Products, Permaculture Magazine). We also want to thank Ruthie King and Joshua Sternberg (of the Grange School of Adaptive Agriculture) who were kind enough to share a cramped booth with us. Your Program Rocks and we were proud to be next to you.

And finally, we want to thank the Education Based Incarceration Unit of the Los Angeles Sheriffs’ Department who helped make our presentation great with their 5-minute film about the Wayside Farm School Program. It was moving and raised our program to a new level of professionalism.

~Wayside Farm Team~