~ The following was published in The Floyd Press on May 20, 2010
About 35 Blue Mountain School (BMS) students, along with several BMS teachers and parent volunteers, spent a recent morning planting potatoes as part of Floyd’s Farm to School Program (FTS). The planting, supervised by the Five Penny Farm farmers at their fields on Shooting Creek Road, was the latest step in building on last year’s FTS pilot program, in which students from Floyd Elementary School and BMS harvested potatoes that were later prepared and served countywide at Floyd public schools.
FTS is a nationwide initiative that, according to their webpage (farmtoschool.org), “connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers.” Floyd’s FTS programs are being organized by SustainFloyd, a grassroots citizen’s group working to support resiliency in the local community.
SustainFloyd director Mike Burton said that public school students weren’t able to attend the potato planting because they were busy taking SOL tests but that they will participate in the harvest in the fall. Burton foresees the growth the FTS program, with more locally grown food – such as potatoes, cabbages, and apples – being incorporated into public school lunch menus each year. Although the programs are supported by the state and the local school system, they are currently under-funded. One of Burton’s jobs as director is to pursue grants and other support for Floyd’s FTS efforts.
“It’s all organic and safe to touch,” Five Penny farmer Brett Nichols told BMS students, pointing out the fertilizer sprinkled furrows where 200 pre-cut seed potatoes would be planted. After being instructed to plant potatoes a foot apart, the students got to work, getting down on their hands and knees or dropping potatoes in the ground.
The morning’s event also included a race between the students and Nichols’ tractor. It took team effort for the students to prevail, covering up rows of planted potatoes faster than Nichols tractor could. “Kid power!” one youngster triumphantly shouted.
Once the planting was done and the races were won, the students happily headed over to Five Penny Farm on Thomas Farm Road. “We’ll have lunch by the pond and the kids can tour the greenhouse,” Five Penny farmer Johanna Nichols said. ~ Colleen Redman blogs daily at looseleafnotes.com.
My mind is filled with information—thoughts on how to make the New River Voice better as a website, as a news organization, and as something that generally serves the community. (more…)
Boot camp sounds like a pretty tough ordeal. And I’m expecting that next week won’t be easy. But it’s probably not as harsh as you might be thinking. (more…)
Life in the rural fast lane just got its speed limit raised. For such a small mountain town, there sure is a lot going on. Not only did we turn our house into a gallery this weekend for the Sixteen Hands Art Tour that my son is a part of, we went dancing to the live sounds of Wildfire at the Pine Tavern Pavilion. (Video clip HERE.)
In between sets, Ilima Ursomarso of Rhythm Fire Dance Company performed a hoop dance. Last year she danced with fire and before that she balanced at sword on her head during a belly dance at Floyd’s first Hafla. (Hoop dance video clip HERE.)
At the BlueCow (the non-profit arm of FloydFest) Arts in the Park free concert the next evening, we spread out a blanket on the lawn, ate Dogtown Pizza, talked with friends, and were generally amazed at the turnout. Are we seeing the start of a new kind of Floyd jamboree, I wonder?
Those Hackensaw Boys put on some kind of show. At the end of it they jumped off the stage and started a foot stomping jam session as the crowed gathered around. One of the band members (far right) is a friend of my son Josh, having lived in the same dorm as Josh at Warren Wilson College in Asheville. Josh went out to eat with the band at Oddfellas Cantina after the show. (Watch a video clip of the jam HERE. )
Now it’s Monday and I’m thinking that I honestly don’t know how people with 9-5 jobs do it. I need weekdays to recover from all these full Floyd weekends.
Post notes: Life in the Rural Fast Lane is an essay I wrote and read on WVTF radio a few years ago, which can be read HERE. To read a Flourishing of the Arts in Floyd, a 3 part story I wrote for a Floyd Press insert, Know Your County, click HERE.
When Melanie Dekker began her set at Kirk Avenue Music Hall Wednesday evening, she announced that she was going to dedicate a song to the first person who greeted her on the streets of Roanoke. Then she was going to dedicate a song to Gary Jackson, the man without whom the Music Hall would not exist. “Can we all have a song?” someone called out from the crowd. (more…)
On Friday night, New River Voice Managing Editor Taryn Chase and I traveled to Roanoke’s Kirk Avenue Music Hall to catch an infrequent rock show at the venue. Kirk Ave. has developed quite a reputation for bringing in great acts in the folk, Americana, and bluegrass genres, but Gary Jackson and the gang from Kirk Ave. stayed local for some loud guitars and drums. (more…)
