Sunfield Farm and Waldorf School- A Land for Learning

Dear Friends of Sunfield,

School is out and Sunfield continues to buzz over the summer:

CAMPS have brought children back to the farm for the summer. Our exciting and challenging offerings for children and young adults can be found on our website--www.sunfieldfarm.org.  

Would you like to help three teens experience a 3 week apprenticeship with our farmers thru the Students on the Land (SOL) camp? The cost is $150/week for 3 weeks of intensive learning.  Three teens have expressed a keen interest but need help with the camp tuition. We also need scholarship help for three 4-H campers at $350 per camper. This is a five week program culminating in campers showing goats or sheep at the county fair.

PRODUCE happens through our CSA, which has had six distributions, including our amazing strawberries. Each week’s share grows more abundant.  Our green house tomato project looks promising for upcoming distributions. You can still sign up for a share on our website or in the office. Two more interns have arrived to work with Farmers Neil & Verity as we move into the busy and demanding summer on the farm.  We hosted 28 farmers in June on a 4 hours Farm Walk, one of several around the state coordinated by Tilth Producers of Washington & WSU’s Small Farms Team. 

MOVING is necessary because in the fall we’ll have a brand new 1^st grade, requiring one additional classroom.  We are converting the rest of our office building into another classroom. Administrative staff will move into a leased 12’ x 40’ mobile unit adjacent to the current office.

RESTRUCTURING loans continues as we look for investors to help pay off a $25,000 community loan.  A second loan of $45,000 has now been repaid, thanks to 5 staff, parents, and friends of Sunfield who loaned us a total of $45,000, repayable monthly at terms we can manage.    

ENROLLING new students continues over the summer work. Some have come from a long way off, including Australia, Arizona, North Carolina and California. We are looking forward to another robust school year--our 6^th on the farm.  

PLANNING visits by public school classes. We received $500 from the PT Marathon Association for this purpose. Since each school visit costs us $100, we can now offer 5 such visits. We are seeking additional grants or donations to reach our goal of making these visits available to all public school teachers who want to bring their children for hands-on experience—learning how to grow food and take care of the farm land, wetlands, and forest.

BUILDING our perimeter fencing and our capital campaign. Both projects are vital infrastructure improvements—fencing to protect our wetlands and contain our farm animals; a new building for classrooms, a community space for workshops/meetings/festival gatherings, including much needed kitchen and bathroom facilities.  We have received $13,590 for the Capital Campaign, including a $5,000 matching grant (thus far $500 has been received toward the match).  

REFLECTING on the past year’s success.

·         Attained our goal of expanding to the 8^th grade

·         Total enrollment held steady at 105 students

·         Had our first ever “full” class, with 24 children in the 1^st/2^nd grade

·         Converted half of our office into another classroom, enabling kindergarten to once again have two class rooms

·         Our students had many rich and fulfilling educational experiences, including field trips to Mt. St. Helens, the King Tut exhibit in Seattle, and Ashland for live Shakespeare performances.

·         The first graduation of eighth graders during our summer solstice festival.

·         Added a 90’ hoop green house, giving us more growing room—for winter crops like spinach and summer crops that need lots of warmth.

·         Expanded our strawberry beds and the total amount of land under cultivation.

·         Began wetlands and perimeter fencing project, thanks to a contract with the USDA.

·         Continued our active connection with disabled young adults like Sage (right), who come weekly with their caregivers to volunteer on the farm.

·         Hosted monthly juvenile services work parties and volunteers from Gray Wolf Ranch.

APPRECIATING you, our generous donors and supporters, who help make possible what Sunfield is and does. If interested in supporting and/or participating in any of the above, please contact us. We cannot achieve what we do without your help. Feel free to come out to the farm during the summer and enjoy what’s here.    

     

Warmly,

Jake Meyer, Organizational Director