Greetings from Kirtland Gardens!

As we glean the final fruits from the abundance of summer and plant cold-friendly crops to produce in the winter months of our high desert climate, the excitement and involvement of our kids continues to amplify. We’ve had an extremely busy few months expanding, maintaining, and creating new gardens right here on campus! In collaboration with Dragon Farms and the UNM Research Service Learning Program, the garden program at Kirtland has expanded to include an enlarged after-school garden plot and a new 3500 square foot plot dedicated to engaging our kids around topics of food, agriculture, nutrition, and community

Hurricane Wind Speed Advisory

The recent weather has definitely taken a toll on our plots. Luckily damage was minimal. The first thing I noticed upon coming back to Dragon Farm was that the row cover had been strewn haphazardly around the grounds by the recent winds. On a brighter note the winds also rearranged quite a bit of the row cover debris into very manageable bundles. The lettuce crop was largely unscathed.

 

The remaining central plot beds are eager for another round of seed which will be harvested for the SVA lunches.

Miguel Martinez

Dragon Farm 

Assistant Farm Manager

Brian Najera 11thGrade SVA Service Learning

We worked at Dragon Farm today. We cleared the plots of leaves and weeds and threw them in the compost bins.  We also installed new drip lines and we installed row cover to protect the lettuce from frost burn when it freezes.