Blog Post Written by Compass Alum, Rosy Bell. Rosy was one of six interns to help during this summer’s sessions of Compass Farm Camp.
The sun rises just as the first drips of water come out of the automatic sprinklers, so that the sun beams and a shower of water arches over the Garden of Ideas at the same time. Not long after, a crew of about 6 people tromp over the grounds, deciding what task to take care of each day on the farm. This crew is the summer farm interns led by Farmer Kati. All of these interns are either current or previous Compass students who have attended Compass through many different times, but all marvel at the progress The Compass School has accomplished in just the past few years.
Each intern came for a different reason, from a those just needing a summer job to others who are interested in more specific things that Compass has to offer, but all of them have agreed that they have walked away with so many new skills, just from the 8 weeks of the internship. Here is a community list of some examples we created.
| SKILL | ACCOMPLISHMENT |
| Landscaping/Edging | Brick border continued around hexagon beds in Garden of Ideas |
| Integrative Pest Management | Groundhog Trapping and releasing, Groundhog Fencing installation around Garden of Ideas Combating Colorado Potato Beetle, Tomato Blight, and Tomato Horn Worm |
| Leadership | Summer Camp on the Farm! Led by Farmer Kati and the Interns for two weeks! |
| Construction | Building stakes for the many tomato plants, learning about drilling and pre drilling, finishing Farm Headquarters, Roof on Farmstand |
| Painting | Farm Stand, Signs for all around the farm, Tipping and Edging the Ceiling and floors in Farm Headquarters |
| Harvesting/ Prepping/ Drying/ Packaging | Weekly harvests around the farm, drying garlic and lavender |
| Applying Independent Research | Tick repellent spray out of essential oil, building a working solar oven, pollinator garden inventory, preparation and planning for ducks and chickens |
| School Development Work | Interviewing possible new teachers and directors, taking to possible donors |
| Community Service | Donating harvests to the Welcome House, Planting a garden behind the Welcome House |
| Deeper Understanding to Plant Care | Suckering Tomatoes, Thinning, Fertilizing, Watering Daily |
| Weed Management | Smothering, Hand Weeding, Weed Wacking |
| Soil Health | Verma Compost, Foiler Spraying |
Another huge success that I would love to touch on is the first ever Farm Camp. For those of you who don’t know, farm camp was two separate weeks of camp for kids currently at Compass. Every day, we would have some sort of fun activity along with guests.
These guests ranged from Ms. Monique who taught about soil to a local family who brought in their ducks for the day. The day would also be filled with water games, harvesting food to bring home to families and some sort of work to help the farm grow. This could be something like transplanting strawberries or weeding tomatoes.
All the campers thrived from working and playing outside during the hours of camp from 8am-noon. The interns all rotated in and out, helping as needed and teaching the campers some things about their own interests. A successful first year has us excited for more campers and camp weeks next year!
We have accomplished so much during our short time here at the Farm, and still have much more to do to complete our vision of Compass. We were so successful on the farm that we were able to harvest around 100 lbs of fresh produce in addition to 65 bunches of greens and 10 bags of herbs (harvest log from June 26th-August 11th). There’s so much more still coming in!
Having Farmer Kati and her interns at the farm this summer was vital to this success. This blog will continue on to show the development of the Compass School Farm!
