The Colorado Rocky Mount School Organic Gardening Learning Center continues making ever larger contributions to CRMS food supply- and larger school life.
Having surpassed 9,000 pounds of production over the last two years, the garden is working toward the goal of providing 12,000 pounds of of produce for school use this season.
Elevation and Production Challenges
The CRMS Organic Garden provides a real-life lab as faculty and students confront two primary realities of small scale food production.
First, for CRMS, physical location provides the primary gardening challenge. The garden must focus on varieties suited to growing at 6,350 feet. Even then, plants can require covering to protect them from the cold.
Secondly, with the bounty of successful production, CRMS gardeners and kitchen staff must then plan the use of their fruits and vegetables.
As any food gardener will attest, the harvest comes in in unevenly and in waves. ‘How much zucchini can use at one point during the year?’
Canning, freezing, pickling, root cellar storage, and preserving are more than a convenience. They’re tried and true ways make the harvest last through the winter months.
“This past summer, CRMS was able to grow and harvest Beauregard sweet potatoes and Lambkin melons in the hoop house in spite of a 50% chance that there would be 108 frost-free days that season. One whopping Gold Medal tomato weighed in at 5 lbs. This extended growing season, combined with root-cellar storage, drying, pickling, and freezing, allows the school to eat from the garden year round.”(CRMS)
Composting Supports Production
“…all of the food waste and paper products from the cafeteria are collected and composted by a student work crew. During the nine months that school is in session, this comprises 750 pounds of waste weekly. The composting piles are ready for spreading on the gardens within a year. This composting effort keeps over 31,000 pounds of waste out of the landfill annually.” (CRMS)
Gardening to Ranching
Building on the success of the Organic Garden, CRMS is now working to reestablish a working ranch as part of campus life.
“…students now tend weaner pigs for fall butchering and gather eggs from a flock of laying hens. Last fall and through the winter, students rebuilt fences and corrals with the ultimate goal of eating their own ranch-raised beef in the future.” (CRMS)
Working in the garden, understanding the processes, understanding the animals, seeing the energy and resources required, and seeing the endpoint use or consumption give CRMS students and faculty an understanding and special appreciation of what goes into every item on the table. It is an ultimate lesson in planning from production, through consumption, then to waste.
Perspectives and lessons drawn from their work in the CRMS Organic Gardening Learning Center imbue CRMS alumni and faculty with experiences they can take, and apply, into the broader world as we all understand infinite consumption is not sustainable.
