Fern Ridge School District Project
GROWING A FUTURE
Growing A Future School Farm is a project of the Fern Ridge School District, the Elmira High School Interact Club and with overseeing support and training provided by Sea Mercy, an Oregon based non-profit charity. Our goal is to work hard and create a safe, vibrant, and innovative environment for our schools (K-12) and our community. It is also about researching, remembering and returning to what was good from the ‘old ways’ of growing before our pursuit of ‘progress’ began destroying our soil and environment.
Interested in learning more? Explore our site to see the beautiful personal and physical growth happening at Growing A Future and learn how you can become part of our community.
About Growing a Future
Our Work & Dreams
Growing A Future is an Elmira High School Interact Club project started in 2018. It began as a 'proof of concept' single greenhouse growing vegetable starters for resale with a dream to turn our program into a powerful and life-changing Soils School & Community Farm that will teach and train our students and community members of all ages to develop a healthy, self-sustaining and thriving community.
With the approval and full support of the Fern Ridge School District and the donation of 3 acres of school property to use for our program, that dream has now become a reality.
The imaginative 'Middle Earth' School Farm is a year-round and comprehensive hands-on teaching and training program for K-12 students and community members. With plenty of open field planting areas, two greenhouses, 60 fruit trees, berries, composting center, pollinator garden & gazebo, and 20' Training Center Yurt sitting in the middle that will help expand our areas of learning and knowledge. The end goal is to increase the amount of healthy produce we can grow and share with the school and community. We encourage you to join us and support us as we strive to make a difference.
Our Annual Valentine Roses Event!
A Dozen Roses
$39.95 (includes glass vase, card and delivered
Every year our Valentine Roses program provides a wonderful way for the community to indirectly support the ongoing development and growth of the Growing A Future School Farm (www.growingafuture.org) program. This year's Roses program is even more exciting and affordable when saying "I love you" to the ones you love.
With regards to the roses, they are a dozen roses beautifully arranged in a glass vase and can include a personal card/message from you. More importantly, they will be hand delivered to the person you care about by our team.
The roses, vase and message card will be delivered on Valentines Day (Tuesday, February 14th) between the hours of 8am to 3pm (include address on checkout). Although we cannot guarantee an exact delivery time, we will do our best to match your request. If you have any questions, please email us at growingafuture@gmail.com.
If you do not wish to order valentine roses, but would still like to support the School Farm programs, please consider making a Separate Donation.
Thank you for your support!
Hobbit Sightings!
Entrance Gate Completed
There is a much bigger purpose for the “Hobbit Hole” entrance to the school farm than it just looking cool. At the School Farm, we believe that a student using their imagination is the most powerful tool for learning. To help grow their imaginations, we have developed a K-5 school farm curriculum around a fictional short story about the importance of remembering and returning to the “old ways” of farming if we are to save our soil, our plants, our trees, and our very health before it is too late.
The short story* is called “One Last Chance” and it is about how the hobbits (farming), the elves (trees and flowers), and the dwarves (livestock) learned long ago how to live in harmony with the earth and each other. After failing countless times to teach the human adults, they are trying one last time to save the planet by teaching the children through a magical ‘Box of Learning’ that they have given to them. So, not only is the hobbit door entrance designed to launch their imaginations, so many other aspects of the school farm and curriculum are created to do the same.
The good news is, for you 6th to 12th graders and community members, you’re never too old and it's never too late to revive your imaginations. Come and join us at the school farm and you might even find that returning to the old ways of farming will even make you feel young again.
* One Last Chance (The Box of Learning) is available on Amazon.com and all proceeds go to the Growing A Future School Farm.
Email us your questions!
Interested in getting involved with Growing A Future? Do you have some advice to share? Please send us an email and we will respond as quickly as we can.
