Yale Divinity Farm

Robert's Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

It was a warm and sunny day in May when several of us gathered at the Divinity Farm to plant the summer crops. Robert was there with his family and he was especially excited about the giant pumpkins. He planted three seedlings, and we just harvested three monster pumpkins. Good job Robert!

Here's the pumpkin at Robert's house. It weighed more than 100 pounds.

Here's Robert with his giant jack-o-lantern

Community Building

2010-07-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

Two happy campers take a break from their work on the compost bin.

Speaking of Food

2010-07-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

YDS Alum Krista Tippett has an awesome interview with Barbara Kingsolver on Speaking of Faith.

"Kingsolver describes an adventure her family undertook to spend one year eating primarily what they could grow or raise themselves. As a citizen and mother more than an expert, she turned her life towards questions many of us are asking. Food, she says, is a "rare moral arena" in which the ethical choice is often the pleasurable choice" (American Public Media).

Check out the Full Interview Here

Environmental Justice Work Day.

2010-07-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Corn picture from summer of 2009. Just to get excited about the fall harvest...

Stephanie's really good at incorporating environmental stewardship into liturgy. Here she leads a blessing of the farm.

2010-07-19T21:21:00.001-07:00

Sunshine, flowers, springtime, and banjo music. (you can't see the banjo, but he's there)

Sunflowers!

Soil.

Props to John and Freddie Helmierre who engineered a new way to measure the beds. We moved the rope and string contraption with teamwork.

There's the banjo. A famous community in South America (Gaviotas) always has two volunteers playing music while the rest of the team works.

Environmental Justice Work Day

2010-07-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Preparing to plant a red oak with the Urban Resources Initiative. This tree will sequester about 1 ton of carbon dioxide.

Show time.

The second line parade down to the farm.

Musicians serenade the garden volunteers.

Global Partnership

2010-04-22T17:21:00.001-07:00

Sarah and Andy worked at the Asian Rural Institute during the summer of 2009. We met young farmers from 30 countries, and we partnered with a really fun group from International Christian University, Tokyo. Rocky brought us to the University garden and we took this picture. You can almost see the hot humidity in this picture. Sunbeams steam through thick wet air...But it was a great experience

Snow Lettuce!

2010-02-17T12:26:00.001-08:00

It's hard to see because of the dim light, but lettuce is still growing in this February blizzard!

Urban Foodshed Collaborative

2010-02-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

MEET GORDON @ FOODSHED from Giovanni P Autran on Vimeo.

Justin Freiberg teamed up with New Haven high school students to cultivate urban food gardens in the summer of 2009. In this video, Gordon harvests divinity farm greens and talks about food, community, and college. Check out this inspiring work at the Urban Foodshed Collaborative

Yale Daily News

2010-01-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

Divinity Farm featured in the Yale Daily News.
Click HERE for the article by Carol Hsin

Compost and Cold Frame

2009-12-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

A November trek inside the cold frame yields nasturtiums, mums, lettuce, and radish.

Andrew and Sam hard at work on the compost bin.

Andrew, Sam, Andy, and Noel pose with the nearly-completed compost bin

The Yale Earth Care Committee makes a compost volunteer schedule for the spring. Check out those reusable plates!

Sarah and Day Dodson (of the Evangelical Education Society) pose by the compost bin and cold frames.

Jumping in the Leaf Pile

2009-11-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

We were about to build the compost bin when Scott spotted the leaf pile. We jumped in it, Scott did some death-defying front flips, and Justin used his remote controlled camera (note the remote in his right hand). One thing led to another...

Cold Frame: Lettuce in December

2009-10-26T20:50:00.001-07:00

Florence, Sam, and Mike worked hard to build these cold-weather shelters for our salad greens. We're growing nasturtiums, spinach, lettuce, raddish, and the occasional mum. Take a peek next time you walk by. The plastic acts just like a green house and extends the growing season through December. We couldn't have built these forts without Florence. Thank you!

Fall Photos

2009-10-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Check out the "divinity farm" sign, fresh mums, people relaxing, building community, harvesting, and building a tomato trellis. The sweet cherry tomatoes pop in your mouth.

Had to climb up the larch tree to take this shot.

Farm volunteers planting winter greens. We will put them under a cold frame when the frost comes.

Fall Photos

2009-10-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here's what the farm looked like the day after we planted.

Florence harvesting cherry tomatoes in September.

Mustard greens right before the harvest.

The corn patch! 2 weeks after planting.

September corn harvest. Here Andy, Florence, and Uting seek the perfect ear of corn. Florence found the best one.

Fall Photos

2009-10-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Florence, Uting, and Andy in the corn patch. The corn was at least 6'6" and the stalks make great compost.

Marigolds surround the sweet corn. These flowers attract pollinators, repel pests, and look pretty. Part of our integrated organic garden.

Ginormous sunflowers! These guys were a real hit with the bumble bees.

Fresh salad prepared by Heather Wenrick. Garden tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, and scalions dance with local feta cheese and a splash of olive oil.

Students enjoy the food at weekly community dinners. Thanks to the house residents at Berkeley Center for folding farm veggies into the menu

2009-08-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our Sign Has Arrived!

Thanks to Noel for designing, organizing, and decorating this beautiful sign. TYCO built the sign and Sandy Lynch handled the paperwork. What a team effort.

Now the garden has the same logo as the garden :)

2009-08-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hey team!

Today I went out and got to weeding the some areas, but I also ate some tomatoes and took some photos. If you need a reminder of why this is happening, I highly recommend going out and picking a cherry tomato and sinking your teeth into it. You won't regret it, I promise. Unless you're allergic to awesomeness.

Here is what our project, and all of our hard work, has turned into:

Little baby ears of corn.

A GIANT pepper. (The caps were on purpose)

A little honey bee having a snack on the sunflower.

A steak.

You grow corn!

Little green squash, hanging out in the shade.

First Harvest Photo

2009-08-19T05:21:00.000-07:00

Alice took this picture before dinner.
Yum!

Thanks to the volunteers for working hard all summer.
Enjoy the harvest!

The Barn Raising (or setting down)

2009-06-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmITc21zEEU

This video (taken from an overturned tomato pot) shows the team placing the LAST lumber square. It culminates 3 days of Olympian team work. Thanks to Alice for the photo and YouTube post.

The Warren Files

2009-06-15T19:24:00.001-07:00

Check out these awesome photos from Saturday's work day, taken by David Warren. Plus, thanks to Noel Hennelly for designing the logo you see above.

The view of East Rock from our garden.
Andy, Sarah Warren and Father Joseph discuss how to mulch the young tomato plants.Andy and James: professional mulching team.The tomato plants bask in the sun.A dispatch from Andy:

I played this hymn on Sunday and I like it a lot.

"We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand,
Who sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.
All good gifts around us are sent form heaven above
We thank you God we thank you, for all your love"

When we were planting this garden, an old man walked up and said, "You've done everything you can. Now you just have to sit back and let God do some miracles."

Seeds are blowing my mind this week. Six days ago we dropped flat crusty chunks of DNA into the dirt and waited. I imagined the seeds weighed down by soil, drenched in water, forcing up a tiny shoot to get some solar power before exhausting their stored energy. Then, starting Friday, the shoots started poking through the soil. Turnips, cucumbers, sweet corn, beans, lettuce, and, this morning, some baby carrots. It's amazing.

Beginnings

2009-06-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Divinity Farm! We had our first work day last Friday, and though it rained we got a great start with some amazing help. Saturday the sun came out and so did a ton of volunteers. We dug rows, weeded, planted seeds, built edging, spread mulch, and filled our burm border with a huge assortment of wildflowers and beans.

Here are the vegetables we are growing at the farm: tomatoes, basil, scallions, summer and winter squash, cucumbers, sweet corn, rosemary, snap beans, soybeans, zucchini, lettuce, sage, bell peppers, hot peppers, anice hyslop...

Here's our story in pictures, so far.

The untouched plot, ready for digging.
The 'dozer arrives.
Dean Attridge mans the machine.
One of the biggest jobs, moving the sod, is complete.
Chris and Andy weed the compost.
The 'dozer helps move the compost (still full of weeds) to the garden.
Justin moves the last of the moist, rich compost over to the garden site.
More help arrives! Alice, Andy, Gerald, and Father Joseph start tying beds off into rows.
The broadfork stops for lunchtime...
The beds are shaping up!
James and Emily plant scallion seeds.
Jamey assembles the edging for the first bed.
Justin and Jamey plant lots of beans - both snap and soy.
The sun goes down at the end of a hard day's work. A Divinity School resident inspects our work.
The corn bed gets edging.
Andy shows Carmen our tomato and basil starts.
Rachel greets a community member as she finishes the edging for our raised bed.