BARRINGTON FARM SCHOOL

Farm Education, including composting and regenerative farming. The program is supported by 309 individuals providing 5,431 hours of support. The Compost environmental program teaches the processes of collecting food scraps from the local community to create organic fertilizer for the farm. Food safety regulations are followed with vegetable and fruit food scraps combined with leaves, wood chips and saw dust to be turned over frequently, with temperatures monitored for a complete process. Environmental education focuses on diverting food scraps from landfills and creating a valuable resource used to regenerate soil on the farm. More than 73,000 lbs. (32 tons) were diverted from landfills. Regenerative agricultural practices are supported by the Farm Volunteer Program. The volunteer program assists the farmer in all aspects of regenerative farming practices from seeding, planting, maintenance (watering, weeding), harvesting and farm stand marketing. Each task is an educational experience to learn how our food is grown using regenerative soil management, addressing environmentally safe growing practices without chemicals, and the importance of being good stewards to the land and creating biodiversity in native plantings. Volunteers included groups such as high school students, Day of Caring participants, HS Environmental Groups, Girl Scouts, School Groups and Field Trips by local elementary school students participated in farming tasks that teach regenerative farm practices including composting, planting and seeding. This hands-on environmental education is an invaluable lesson in farming and being good stewards to the land. School field trips involved 991 students from kindergarten to 8th grade and special needs high school groups. Other community engagement and education events promoting composting and regenerative farming were attended by 644 people. Interactions at our 734 events, with 2,426 members of the community, encompassed 9,886 hours. In addition, farm produce with a value of $20,055 was donated to food pantries.