When:Saturday June 17th,2017 6AM-9AM
What: Several Educational Topics including:
Where: RabbitEye Farm Front Lot
Sunday: Rope & Harness Tree Climbing Event (fundraiser)When: Sunday June 18th, 2017 5PM-9PM coincides with RabbitEye Farm’s Evening Berry Picking
What: Rope & Harness Tree Climbing
It’s a great way to climb and a safe way to have fun in the trees. Using arborist techniques, rope and harness tree climbing lets you have fun at any height. With several rope set-ups and several sizes of harnesses, several people can literally hang-out together while they climb. Full Hour-$30: Half Hour-$20; and Quarter Hour-$15. visit www.treeclimbing.com for more information on this technique.
Where: RabbitEye Farm – near berry picking areas
ONE of our goals here at Grayhill School Farm (GHSF) is to connect gardeners with land.
Here is our first success story for 2017:
The GardenersRon and Bonnie moved into our West Point, Georgia area from North Dakota. They have terrific farming skills, but their small plot of land has poor soil and a lot of shade cover, which is less than ideal for growing a vegetable garden. We got to know them when they attended some of our classes and we helped build a small nursery greenhouse on their property. It was quickly apparent that they could use more gardening space.
The LandRabbitEye Farm (REF), which grows blueberries and blackberries, had been preparing the soil on a front plot for a couple of years now, but it was still not being used. With GHSF’s mission of connecting gardeners with land, REF decided that the area could be used for a better purpose! Ron and Bonnie began gardening in this new designated area in early 2017. REF helped by adding on to their irrigation system to make it easier for them to water all the vegetable plants. These are a few photos of that garden.
The Results: Enough produce to sell to you!The results were fantastic! Produce from this garden will be for sale at RabbitEye Farm right here in West Point, Georgia, just off of I-85 exit 6, on regular berry picking days: (link for directions below)
Thursdays and Sundays in June.
Morning 6AM to 10AM and
Evening 5PM to 9PM.
How convenient! You can pick berries and get your produce at the same stop, all while supporting local farmers!
The Red-Clay Gardening class was deemed a success! Thank you to all who attended, your questions were great. If you didn’t make it to our first permaculture session, there are still more things to learn. Our next topic is “No Till/No Weed Winter Prep”. I want to clarify the time of these sessions held on Sundays. From 2:00 PM until around 3:00 PM will be the “educational part”, and then from 3:30 PM until 6:00 PM are tours, questions, discussion, fellowship and networking. You do not have to stay for the entire time. If you are only interested in the educational topic, then your time commitment is from 2:00 PM to around 3:00 PM. Remember, these sessions are free in the month of January. The meeting place is RabbitEye Farm 279 Grayhill School Road, West Point, GA (for now), but we are technically located next door. With this wonderful weather, and the nature of our topics, we will be outside at RabbitEye Farm anyway.
As I take the Permaculture Design Course from Geoff Lawton, I am trying to provide a place where folks can gather to learn and share about sustainable gardening relevant to our area. Permaculture is an important movement that we all need to take part in. If you are not familiar with the term permaculture, I will be glad to introduce you to it.
Gray Hill School Farm is an educational source. We are a not-for-profit organization dedicated to keeping our community and land healthy through sustainable agriculture education.
Agriculture After Church at Gray Hill School Farm – A great way to start the New Year! Gray Hill School Farm is hosting a series of free educational, family friendly events to promote sustainable, healthy lifestyles. Sundays 2pm-6pm. Learn what local farmers and gardeners are doing to make the transition to sustainability easier with hands on workshops, lectures, farm tours and a chance to hang out with some really great people. Our first workshop addresses abundant gardening in red clay soils.
Gray Hill School Farm campus is a hammock hanging paradise, adjacent to, and surrounded by, RabbitEye Farm. Beech groves, springs, and streams abound on the walking trails of the 60-acre property. We are studying and implementing Permaculture ethics and techniques to protect these assets while creating eco-systems designed to self-regenerate topsoil while growing more and more of our own food.
Gray Hill School Farm is currently considering best-use applications for rental of on-campus housing/meeting/garden areas for family, interns, home school groups, or similar- with an interest in sustainable agriculture research and education.
Beyond sustainable, Gray Hill School Farm is a ministry of community abundance. Our vision is to connect growers with land, and teach children and adults a regenerative process of growing healthy food for themselves and their neighbors. Shared, entrepreneurial opportunities and experiments are encouraged.
Welcome to 2017. We at Grayhill School Farm are very excited to be able to bring you Permaculture Education. Permanent agriculture or permaculture, is ethics driven agriculture designed to create fertile, living topsoil. Our vision is to connect growers with land, and teach children and adults a regenerative process of growing healthy food for themselves and their neighbors.
Our community education/meet-up sessions will take place on Sunday afternoons from 2:00 pm until 6:00 pm. The location: All sessions are at Grayhill School Farm, which adjoins RabbitEye Farm at 279 Grayhill School Road, West Point, GA – Parking at RabbitEye Farm and short walk to education building. Our first session titled “Red Clay Ditch Gardening” will take place Sunday January 15, 2017, which is coming up soon. All January sessions are free to the community and will include farm tours. Weather appropriate clothing and comfortable shoes required.
Farmscaping in the red clay zone, creating “living soil” – How to build natural eco-systems that break down accumulated minerals and carbons into forms readily available to plants while minimizing needs for water and fertilizers. Learn about permaculture techniques employed by RabbitEye Farm to change “grow nothing red clay” into lush, abundant food production.
Learn what you should be doing NOW to prepare your Spring kitchen garden with abundant, organic, living soil. Allow nature to do most of the work and use materials available at almost no cost and very little labor. See examples of first year to five year no till beds and differences in several soil prep methods. The sooner you start the better the soil.
Easily assembled, using parts readily available from Tractor Supply or similar farm supply store. Learn how to build a 9×8 Greenhouse/shade house for about $175. The length is scaleable in 4 foot increments. Build a 9×20 for about $350. Attractive in rural or urban environments. We will explore using these as a supplemental heating source for homes or barns. Self-heating and self-venting methods will also be discussed along with practical tips on assembly.
The Farm Report –pot-lucks, farm tours and crowd funding The more I learn about sustainable and regenerative gardening, the more there is to learn. I will always be a student, yet I feel a calling to teach and spread good news of abundant living.
Friday evenings in August -I am asking family, friends, and supporters to join me in pot-luck dinners. I need your prayers, ideas, energy and skills. We will hang some hammocks, climb some trees and find some common ground. Acoustic instruments are encouraged. Fun starts at 4:30 p.m. We will ask God’s blessing on the food and wine at 7 p.m.
Saturdays in August- To bring awareness to our crowd funding drive, Gray Hill School Farm will host “open house” with farm tours and introductions to permaculture, aquaponics and beekeeping. We want to provide the tools so you and your family can share in our vision of abundance and health. These are walking tours so bring comfortable shoes. There will be plenty of places to enjoy a picnic or hang a hammock. Acoustic music is always encouraged, so feel free to bring an instrument.
The future?? – We have been planning, planting and building for 4 years. Our money, our time and the help of many volunteers have brought us this next phase of growth. Local philanthropists need to see your support before committing funds to the vision. The local Woodmen Chapter has organised a crowd funding campaign through Red Basket. We are currently using the rental property on RabbitEye Farm while building the Aquapoincs facility. If we raise $100 or $100,000 our research will continue, whether as an unsupported hobby or a supported ministry, time will tell.
Share the vision– Please read the About section for more details on our community vision. I will be honored to speak or present at your churches, civic groups or other organisations to raise awareness for the Gray Hill School Farm and our vision of community abundance.
Doug Roberts Farmlandthropist
Gray Hill School Farm
