Spending time on a farm is a novelty for many Minnesota kids, but the staff at Gale Woods Farm is changing that. More than 6,500 kids come through yearly: meeting the cows, collecting the eggs, and sinking their little hands into the dark soil.
The farm hosts field trips, educational programs including summer day camps and overnight camps, and The Community Farm Project – a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation wherein city teens produce organic food for 30 local, share-holding families.
Located 25 miles west of Minneapolis in Minnetrista, the 100-acre farm is part of the larger Gale Woods Park. The organically managed gardens and orchards, the chicken coops, and sheep barns are all a part of the authentic farm experience. “We’re not just a model farm, we’re a real working farm; a true farm. We don’t rent a cow from the neighbors, like many farms do,” explains Tim Reese, the farm’s supervisor. “Every year, 50 lambs are born here and five market steers are butchered – we’re not a petting zoo,” he adds.
The farm’s focus is on teaching kids where their food comes from and educating them on the benefits of organic, sustainable agriculture. Three years ago, The Community Farm Project was started as a way to introduce both city and suburban kids to farming. The nine-week program is available to 13-16-year-olds who are ready for some tough country work like weeding, harvesting, and planting gardens. But the kids learn more than that according to Reese; team building, self-reflection, and job and social skills are also important benefits of the program.
Alexis Stave, of Maple Plain, was 15 when she became one of the original youth farmers. She liked it so much she returned the following year. Now in the 11th grade, she fondly remembers the really fun people she met and the amazement she felt seeing things grow from seed into a plant. “I loved seeing the eggplant, it was just this bright, beautiful purple color,” she says.
The organic produce Stave and her fellow youth farmers grew was also used to prepare lunch for themselves and the younger day campers. Delicious garden omelets prepared with organic eggs collected by the kids and broccoli grown by Stave were favorites. She loved eating the fresh strawberries and corn right off the stalk. When they had extra vegetables, the kids would bring it to the local food shelf.
Every Thursday during harvest, Stave remembers thoroughly washing the fruit and vegetables and proudly packing the boxes for the families who would come for their shares of produce. “We got to meet some of the families and take them on a tour of the gardens” she says, “It was cool to show them what we did – everything we had to do in order for the different vegetables to get to them.”
Too old now to participate in the program, Stave and her family have become CSA shareholders and are eagerly looking forward to receiving the first harvest.
