http://beardsleyfarm.org/

A great day with the Nutrition Detectives class that the kids attend at our local Earth Fare health food store.  Teachers Paula and Paula arranged a field trip to our local urban Beardsley Farm downtown Knoxville.  This farm is such a unique place as the heart of it lies in bringing local farming practices, food preparation and education to the poor and minorities of our area.  It is a great philanthropic idea, but is also a hub of example for the community about what can be grown in smaller spaces of land space organically.  Volunteers come to the farm every day to pitch in and bring home whatever bounty is available.

Paula #1 is a RN and certified health coach with training in integrative nutrition.  Paula #2 works for Juice Plus (a supplement company) and parents own a prestigious children's day camp here in Knoxville.  They both are passionate about health and nutrition and in educating people in the ways to better their lives and get off the medical treadmill of drugs and illness.  

Ben the farm manager was a wealth of information and very patient with my kiddos twenty questions.  We were the only family to attend the trip and recieved a wonderful private tour and education on sustainable farming practices.  Noah hung on every word and knew quite a bit about planting, seeds, etc. from our home gardening experiences.

Over 1200 gallons of water in their rain barrels...puts our little home barrel to shame!

A wonderful compost bin of three compartments:  new compost, decomposing compost and finished lush, wormy, perfect soil.

Checking out all the wormies in the compost!

Ben showing the children how bees pollinate the flowers, turning flowers into fruit.

A mini apiary and lesson on bee keeping.  Ben harvested over 100 gallons of honey this month and we were the first to purchase this wonderful local, raw honey... with amazing health benefits.

Over 40,000 bees!  Interestingly, as we learned that there's only one queen per hive.  Baby bees are born and nursed in the bottom of the hive and cared for by female nurse bees who feed the babies.  Nurse bees feed Royal Jelly to 5 of the babies to turn them into queens where they will duke it out and fight for control over the hive.

Ben showing the children a baby lady bug (larvea really).  Lady bugs are great natural pest repellents for aphids and other insects.

Homemade sun dial...really cool!

A really neat and easy to make homemade solar dehydrator, they use it for tea making and spice drying.

Anna retrieving an egg from the hen house.

We loved this unique farm with modern flare, it was truly inspiring and a labor of love for all who are involved.  The next project for the farm will be farmer's markets set up nearby so that poor families can utilize their food stamp programs for fresh produce.

 http://www.beardsleyfarm.com/2009/06/farm-fest-was-sensation.html