Grade 9 Polyface Farm Field Trip
Ninth-Grade Field Trip to Polyface Farm
10/3/2013
On September 27, freshman class members took a special class trip to observe sustainable farming and ecological practices at Polyface Farm near Staunton, Virginia. Polyface Farm, Inc. is a family-owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Its owner, Joel Salatin, is a nationally known expert on non-industrial food production and a frequent speaker on the topics of developing economically and environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and the facilitation of such practices throughout the world. At their farm, the Salatins continue to refine their models to push environmentally-friendly farming practices toward new levels of expertise.
Bryan Innovation Lab Resident Scientist Chris Lundberg led Steward students on the tour, along with the Polyface Farm Manager, Brie Aronson. Students learned about “nature’s path template” on the farm and visited the chick brooder (where they held baby chicks), the “Raken” (where chickens and rabbits live together to their mutual benefit), and the “Pigerator Barn” (where cows winter, and then pigs are brought in to root and create mulch out of wood chips, left over corn, and cow manure). They also saw several of the pastures where livestock and poultry live free range and are moved frequently to new “salad bars” that promote better levels of nutrition to the animals while responsibly using the landscape. Students learned that grass is nature’s best detoxifier for animals that graze because it promotes healthy body systems. Students left the trip having learned that practices such as those at Polyface mimic existing systems in nature and help promote a perennial prairie polyculture on the farm.
Many of the lessons from the trip will eventually find their way into experiments and activities at the Bryan Lab.
Read More10/3/2013
On September 27, freshman class members took a special class trip to observe sustainable farming and ecological practices at Polyface Farm near Staunton, Virginia. Polyface Farm, Inc. is a family-owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Its owner, Joel Salatin, is a nationally known expert on non-industrial food production and a frequent speaker on the topics of developing economically and environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and the facilitation of such practices throughout the world. At their farm, the Salatins continue to refine their models to push environmentally-friendly farming practices toward new levels of expertise.
Bryan Innovation Lab Resident Scientist Chris Lundberg led Steward students on the tour, along with the Polyface Farm Manager, Brie Aronson. Students learned about “nature’s path template” on the farm and visited the chick brooder (where they held baby chicks), the “Raken” (where chickens and rabbits live together to their mutual benefit), and the “Pigerator Barn” (where cows winter, and then pigs are brought in to root and create mulch out of wood chips, left over corn, and cow manure). They also saw several of the pastures where livestock and poultry live free range and are moved frequently to new “salad bars” that promote better levels of nutrition to the animals while responsibly using the landscape. Students learned that grass is nature’s best detoxifier for animals that graze because it promotes healthy body systems. Students left the trip having learned that practices such as those at Polyface mimic existing systems in nature and help promote a perennial prairie polyculture on the farm.
Many of the lessons from the trip will eventually find their way into experiments and activities at the Bryan Lab.
