Edible Education
Butler Green Farm School’s Vision of how to educate and prepare our next generation of young farmers begins with exposing kids to gardening at an early age. Through the Edible Educational Program, we provide garden plots for students (kindergarten through 4th grade) from our nearby grade school. These kids get their hands in the soil, planting seeds and caring for them, and eventually get to taste carrots right from the ground. This early connection, understanding where heathy food comes from and developing good habits snacking on nutritious food from the garden, is exactly how my own passion for farming began long ago. Our Farm School provides garden plots with instructors, each working with small groups of kids, providing an incredible, eye-opening opportunity. We encourage individual involvement, self-discovery and having lots of fun in the garden dirt. Each student is rewarded with snacks at the end that they have proudly grown themselves.
Horticulture Studies
Later students can further their interests in gardening by learning integral concepts related to sustainable landscape management and environmental stewardship through an elective “Horticulture Studies Class” offered at the high school level. This elective course allows the individuals to dive deeper into the significance of where food comes from, how food is grown using sustainable practices and the value of a healthy diet. Farm School Instructors work with the school staff providing hands-on instruction in designing, planting, and maintaining campus vegetable and pollinator gardens. These gardens become the classroom for the semester’s studies.
Intern Education Program
For students who desire pursuing further, their new-found passion in organic farming, we provide a Farm Intern Educational Program. The Intern curriculum includes classroom studies along with hands-on teaching components while living on site. Our curriculum is designed to offer a complete overview of all critical components from the beginning of the season, from planting seeds to harvest. Additional classes through our Kitsap Farm Mentor Program and WSU’s Farm Technical Assistance Program are added to complete the curriculum. The farm interns work alongside other young farmers throughout the eight-month Program where they have the opportunity to become totally immersed in the rewarding lifestyle. The ability to find purpose in life early on, providing healthy food for the community and saving farmland is our ultimate goal for each farm intern. The majority of our past interns have gone on to become active stewards of our farmlands and for that reason, the Butler Green Farm School remains passionate about raising more young farmers this next season.