One fairly dramatic change that we have experienced in the operation of the farm this year has been our active recruitment of larger groups of volunteers working all over the farm. While Hidden Villa has worked with volunteers for years and the help they have offered has always been an important part of what makes our farm run, this year our volunteer coordinator, Marc Sidel, has been bringing larger-sized groups of people often part of larger companies in our area to carry out teambuilding exercises and to put in a day working on the farm. It is a very different kind of management of work on the farm with a crazy rhythm. On two days this spring we have had more than 60 people come out to help us with field tasks for a period of a few hours.

By Suzanne Allcroft, Agriculture Intern

This Tuesday I had the privilege of attending a pizza party hosted by a group of students from Kennedy Middle School.  But this wasn’t just any pizza party. The students made everything from scratch (even the cheese!) and it marked the finale of an after school class called Kitchen Literacy: Cooking, Nutrition, and Food Justice. For the final class, the students had invited their parents and teachers to enjoy their cooking.

By Suzanne Allcroft, Agriculture Intern

Have you ever tried growing your own food? You may be a veteran gardener or you may be intimidated by the thought of keeping something alive. Whichever you are, if you’re tempted by the idea of picking something off the vine that you grew or grabbing something from your garden to cook for dinner, I encourage you to visit our plant sale this weekend.

Hello from Hidden Villa’s Garden Outreach program! My name is Carey Fritz. As Garden Outreach Teacher Intern, I spend 2 days a week teaching off-site at Taft Community School and at John Gill Elementary. I am excited to share how I have been involved in our partnership schools in Redwood City in this guest post.