Neighborhood Harvest Sows Seeds for Upcoming Season

Though Whatcom County farm fields lie dormant this time of year, Columbia Neighborhood resident farmer Mary E. von Krusenstiern is busy preparing for the upcoming farming season by selling produce shares for her Community Supported farm.

The concept is simple.  Community members support their local farmer by buying a produce share that entitles them to a portion of the harvest during the growing season.  Farmers sell the shares before the growing season and use some of the money for seeds, soil and natural fertilizer.

According to von Krusenstiern the benefits of CSA farming include conservation of transportation costs and energy, better nutritional value of fresh foods, the consumer knows where their food is coming from, and money stays in the local

The growing season for Whatcom County Community Supported Agricultural farms runs from June through October.  Supporters of the local farmers are guaranteed a box of fresh vegetables once each week during the growing season.  Vegetables can be picked up at several locations around town.  Many of the farmers also offer home delivery for a small delivery fee.  Produce shares are sold on a first come first serve basis with many farmers selling out of shares by the end of March.

von Krusenstiern’s farm consists of three growing plots comprising just over an acre.  The largest plot is an acre of leased land off of Rural Avenue where most of her mixed vegetables are grown.  von Krusenstiern also farms two urban plots.  One plot is located at her home on Henry Street in the Columbia Neighborhood where she has a seed germination house and grows annual vegetable crops.  The other plot is on Logan Street in the Broadway Park Neighborhood where she grows perennial herbs.

Right now Krusensiern’s plot of land on Henry Street is bare.  Krusensiern said she is thinking about tilling the soil soon. She usually begins germinating seeds in the seed germination house in April. She said she used to start earlier, but has learned not to start planting too early and just be patient and wait for the weather to warm.

von Krusenstiern grew up in Bellingham, but did not grow up farming.  Her mother always maintained a large garden in their yard, but von Krusenstiern showed little interest until she attended Lesley University in Massachusetts where she studied Environmental Studies. After an internship on a CSA farm in Fairbanks, Alaska van Krusenstiern moved to New Hampshire with a friend to work on an organic farm.  The pay was so low Krusenstiern and her friend decided to farm their own plot of land and sell their produce at a local farmers market. She later returned to Bellingham.

Not wanting to jump right into her own CSA farm operation she spent the year working on a CSA farm in Whatcom County while also working on her farm plan, creating her website, enlarging her back yard garden, and looking for land to lease.  von Krusenstiern also received guidance through the Food to Bank On program which is a CSA mentorship program through Sustainable Connections and also sought advice through Whatcom Farmers Google Group. She then began advertising for customers through a neighborhood newsletter and received most of her business through word of mouth. 

von Krusenstiern’s most labor intensive time of year is May through September. She begins preparing her fields in April and May.  She does most of the work herself hiring very minimal help with seeding, weeding and harvesting.  “What is great about CSA is you know that the food you pack is going somewhere,” she said.

Community Supported Agriculture in the U.S. began in 1986 with two farms, one in Massachusetts and the other in New Hampshire.  The CSA farm concept was transplanted from Europe.  CSA farmers practice sustainable farming methods and grow produce organically.  What started as two farms in 1986 exploded to 12,549 farms by 2007, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture census.

von Krusenstiern says that CSA farming is her passion and that she is determined to carve out a small niche for herself and be self-employed.  She says that CSA farming is a great model for marketing and food distrubution, but is not for the inexperienced farmer.  She recommends that if someone is interested in CSA farming to first work on a farm and gain experience with succession farming (a method for timing a continual harvest) and start out small and get to know the land before committing to a large CSA operation.

Currently in Whatcom County there are approximately 16 CSA farms.  Consumers may purchase half shares or whole shares.  A half share feeds approximately 1-2 people per week while a full share feeds approximately 3-4 people per week depending on the person’s weekly consumption of vegetables.  Since people do vacation during the summer, it is recommended that arrangements be made to give a neighbor your box of vegetables for the weeks you will be gone.  Some neighbors buy shares together and split the shares.  When one person is out of town the other neighbor gets all of the vegetables for the week. 

 The price of the shares varies, but generally ranges from $250 a half share to $650 for a full share depending on the farm and the type of vegetables received, which equates to about $13 a week for a half share and $30 a week for a full share.  Some of vegetables the farm supporter can expect to receive are peas, beans, kale, lettuce, radishes, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini and squash.

        For more information on local CSA farms check out www.communityfood.coop. or von Krusenstiern’s website at www.neighborhoodharvest.csasignup.com/members.

Saint Paul's Academy Hoping to Increase High School Enrollment

Saint Paul’s Academy in Bellingham is holding a series of open houses in hope of increasing the enrollment of the high school.  Currently, the enrollment for grades 9-12 stands at 10.  According to Robin Frank, Associate Head of School, at this time there are 6 freshmen, 3 sophomores and 1 junior.  The junior is an exchange student from China.  The school graduated 3 seniors last spring.  Even though St. Paul’s student population is small, Frank says that the freshman class is the biggest the school has had.

Saint Paul’s Academy opened its newly constructed Upper School, located at 1509 Victor Street in the Columbia Neighborhood, last September.  The Upper School, which currently houses the 5^th-12^th grades, has a capacity of 300 students.  Presently, there are 100 students enrolled in grades 5-12.  According to Frank, the 2011 enrollment numbers for the high school are “not what we hoped for, but what we expected”.  Frank believes that the economy is one factor that has had a negative effect on enrollment in the high school.  Another factor is that “it is hard to sell an un-built school”, stated Frank.

Construction costs for the new Upper School totaled $13 million dollars.  The new Upper School was in the planning stage for years, but became a reality with a successful fund raising campaign, construction loans and a loan by the Bellingham based investment firm, Saturna Capital Corporation, whose president, Nick Kaiser, is on the Saint Paul’s Academy school board.  The school received a loan from Saturna totaling over $1.5 million dollars.  As of July 2011, Saturna forgave $500,000 of the principal on this loan and wrote it off as a donation.  Last year’s school auction was also very successful, bringing in well over $400.00 dollars.

The new school boasts four high-tech science classrooms, a multiple use gymnasium with a retractable wall opening to bleacher seating, adjacent locker rooms, and a stage that can be opened or closed off to the gymnasium space.  The classrooms are housed on three floors.  The chapel, office and lunch rooms are located on the first floor.  Students are required to attend chapel twice each week, but have a choice as to whether or not they want to participate in communion. 

Saint Paul’s Academy is Christian based, but is no longer endorsed or associated with the Episcopal Church.  The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia removed the affiliation on February 19, 2010 due to a conflict of interest between the school’s board of trustees and board members who were also chief financial supporters of the school.  Ten out of 17 board members resigned over the situation.  Saint Paul’s is now nondenominational and admits students from all religious affiliations.

According to Saint Paul’s Academy website (www.sp-academy.org), the mission of the school is to “provide academically capable and willing students a rigorous course of instruction, emphasizing leadership, achievement and moral and spiritual development in the Christian tradition.”  Small class size is also a philosophy of the school.  High school classes are capped at 22 students per class.

With such a small number of high school students, Saint Paul’s teachers and administrators have had to be creative in configuring high school classes.  Currently, all of the high school students in grades 9-12 are taking World History together.  The students are split into two groups for English and for Math they are taught at different levels ( Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II and Calculus) in the same classroom. 

Extra-curricular opportunities include tennis, track, cross-country running and golf.   There is also a knitting club, which is a service project, which meets on Fridays.  Students are knitting hats to donate to Warmth for Washington and the Hope House.  Additionally, all high school students are loaned a Macbook Air computer, which they can transport back and forth from school to home.  There is also a publication room where interested students work on the school newsletter and yearbook.

Students are also given the opportunity to study an elective as an individual or in small groups through the on-line school IQ-Academy.  Currently, some students are studying psychology through IQ Academy. Foreign languages other than Spanish can also be taken via IQ-Academy.  Also, according to Spanish teacher Korenna Rawls, Spanish has replaced French as the language taught throughout all the grade levels at Saint Paul’s. 

Saint Paul high school students have the opportunity to participate in a yearly travel trip.  This year they will travel to Washington D.C. for 5-10 days in the spring.  Past trips have included travel to Paris and Quebec.

According to Karenna Rawls, the high school Spanish teacher, several days each week Little Caesars Pizza or Subway sandwiches is brought in for lunch.  The high school students have been given the privilege of using an unoccupied room on the 3^rd floor for their personal lunch room.  It resembles a board room rather than a high school cafeteria.

There are currently 24 8^th graders enrolled at Saint Paul’s Academy.  It is unknown at this time how many of the current eighth-graders will continue on to Saint Paul’s high school.  Tuition for the 2011-2012 school year for the high school is $6800.00, which may be paid in full or on a monthly basis over 10 months.  Financial aide is available for those who qualify.  It is unknown at this time if there will be an increase in tuition for the 2012-2013 school year.

Upcoming open houses are scheduled for Feb 7 and Feb. 22 from 5:30-6:30.  E-mail Robin Frank at rfrank@sp-academy.org for a reservation or call 360-733-1750 extension 1509.

         

         

         

         

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Harvest of the Month Day for Local Schools

     School Harvest of the Month day for Whatcom County schools is Feb. 16.  Locally grown raspberries will be served at Columbia Elementary School as well as all schools throughout the county.  The local raspberries will make their debut in the featured recipe Raspberry Muffin Squares.  Check out the recipe at www.whatcomfarmtoschool.org.

     Harvest of the Month is a Farm-to-School program created by the California Department of Public Health in 2007 that encourages students to enjoy a colorful array of healthy fruits and vegetables and exercise daily (www.harvestofhtemonth.com).  Harvest of the Month promotes healthy food choices to local students, encourages healthy life-long eating habits, supports local farmers and reduces environmental impact by reducing packaging and transportation energy.
     Whatcom County school districts adopted the Harvest of the Month Program in 2011.  All students in Whatcom County who receive free or reduced price lunches or buy a school lunch are eligible to try the fruit or vegetable that is served on Harvest of the Month day.  The fruits and vegetables are purchased from local farmers by the school districts.
     Students in Whatcom County have already had the opportunity this school year to taste locally grown tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and potatoes. Harvest of the Month provides students with the opportunity to taste farm fresh produce or preserved locally harvested fruits or vegetables through the school lunch program.
     According to the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, Whatcom County is the leading county in the State of Wash. for raspberry production and the State of Washington produces 60 percent of the raspberries grown in the United States. 

Columbia Elementary Holds School Science Fair

     It's that time of year again when students across the nation ponder questions such as "How do Traffic Lights Work?" and "Is a Yawn Contagious?"
     Columbia Elementary held its annual science fair Thurs. January 26.  The school was abuzz with excited young scientists eager to show and discuss their projects with the wider community.  Science fair projects were displayed on tables in the gym.  Students participating were in grades K-5.   Students proudly climbed the stairs of the make-shift stage in the cafeteria when their class was called by principal Tom Gresham to receive their science fair participant certificates.
     With recent studies citing U.S. students lagging behind peers in other nations in science and math, it is refreshing to see that students in the Columbia Neighborhood are learning to write a hypothesis and perform an experiment to test their hypothesis.
     Every year the Program for International Student Assessment  (PISA) administers a test to a cross sample of 15-year-olds across the U.S and other countries.  According to the latest test results, students in other countries continue to out-perform U.S. students in science and math.  U.S. students have an "average" rating on the PISA (www.pisa.oecd.org) and the 2009 results placed U.S. students at 23rd in science out of 65 countries.
     One positive note, U.S. students made the biggest gain out of all the participating countries with the ranking of the U.S. rising by six slots overall for science, reading and math.
     The next step for some young Columbia scientists will be the Washington State Sscience and Engineering Fair which takes place in Bremerton, Wash. on March 30 and 31 (www.wssef.org).






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