In May, 90 enthusiastic school children from Redmond Elementary joined us to see how their food is produced. They had a full day of planting seeds, watering, foraging, harvesting, and, of course, sampling!

Do you have a group that would be interested in a Farm Day? We can accommodate small or large groups, from families to businesses and organizations!

Contact us for more info, we sure hope you’ll join us!

Talks and tours are open to the public and each will cost $5.00 per person! All events start at 11a.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information about specific events/locations, contact us at plotstoplates@gmail.com! More information to follow, so keep us bookmarked! 

Wednesday, May 11th:  Chris Lawrence will teach on-farm risk management

Wednesday May 18th:  Field trip to Pine Mountain Ranch

Wednesday, May 25th: Visit to Debra Burke’s Wild and Scenic Nursery

Tuesday, May 31st: Field Trip to Dancing Cow Farm

Wednesday, June 8th: COCC movie screening of “Vanishing of the Bees” (Plots to Plates & Slow Food High Desert)

Wednesday, June 15th: Chef Dave from Cafe 3456 teaches about bridging the gap between growers and restaurants

Saturday, June 25th: Second annual farm tour and Bee BBQ at Rainshadow Organics @ 4pm (Plots to Plates & Slow Food High Desert)

Wednesday, June 29th: Pitchfork-T Ranch Management Intensive Grazing Tour and Invasive Weed Management Activity

Saturday, July 2nd: Open farm day through the Central Oregon Garden Tour

Wednesday, July 13th: Dana Martin from OSU extension teaches about strategic planning

Wednesday, July 20th: Visit with Chef Bette Fraser with the Well-Traveled Fork – *This event is at 6pm, not 11am! Only 14 spaces, please reserve soon!*

Wednesday, Aug 10th: Anna Green talks about food preservation at the OSU extension office in Redmond

Sunday, Aug 14th: August Bounty Dinner with Slow Food

Wednesday, Aug 17th: Field Trip to Last Stand Farm with Kim Kambak

Wednesday, Aug 24th: Field Trip to Faith Hope and Charity Vineyard with Cindy

Sunday, August 28th:  Deschutes Watershed celebration at Rainshadow Organics, Farm Tour and dinner.  RSVP!

May: Greenhouse propagation, transplanting, direct seeding, bed preparation, weeding, seedling pruning, irrigation, crop planning exercise, pest management, farm mechanics

June: Hothouse transition, direct marketing and CSA, overview of cut flowers, harvesting and post-harvest handling of annual and perennial cut flowers, bouquet making, vermiculture, harvesting and post-harvest handling of vegetables

July: Farmers market, weed management, composting, succession planting, bee keeping, soil- physical properties, soil texture, succession planting, harvesting and post-harvest handling of vegetables

**Mid-summer break: July 23rd through August 8**

August: Social justice in agriculture, critical perspectives on the US agri-food system, crop plan presentations, garlic, potatoes, succession planting, harvesting and post-harvest handling of vegetables

September: Grains, youth programs, harvesting and post-harvest handling of vegetables

October: Cover crops, compost production, garlic, youth programs, harvesting and post-harvest handling of vegetables

(Farming is filled with unpredictability, but all of these subjects will be covered over the course of the season. The schedule is subject to change and modification.)

Click on the link below to download the application (Word doc). Complete it thoroughly and mail it in to the address listed at the bottom as soon as you can. If you have any questions, please email us at plotstoplates@gmail.com!

P2P Application

Dear Sweet Medicine and Sarahlee,

As SF High Desert chapter leader I’m so excited to see this collaboration unfold so effortlessly.  I believe Plots to Plates will not only make a substantial and positive impact in Central and greater Oregon, but through-out the nation.  I see Plots to Plates not only giving children and adults of all ages the opportunity to get their hands dirty and reconnect with the source of their food, but also becoming a model for future farm schools throughout the U.S.  On the local level, my hope is that SFHD will play a significant and sustaining roll in helping P to P to reach its goals, financial and otherwise.

All the Best,

Judith

Slow Food High Desert

Our school is based on a collective of note-worthy educators and exceptional farmers who utilize organic and sustainable farming practices, maintaining healthy native habitat and their natural resources. We are offering the next generation of producers, educators, and advocates of sustainable land use systems of feeding themselves and their communities locally.

Mission: Plots to Plates’ mission is to educate and foster ecological renewal, economic viability, and social justice in local, sustainable food education programs.

Primary activities: Local, sustainable, food education and hands-on outreach programs in Central Oregon.

Project Location and Description: Deer Haven and Rainshadow Organics are the main sites of our live-in school and outdoor classrooms. We will produce a body of students trained by innovative, entrepreneurial, expert farmers who farm both sustainably and profitably. The students will have the opportunity to learn how to revitalize small farming with crop diversity, capable of feeding themselves and the local community through direct marketing.

Outreach programs will go hand in hand for the outer-community offerings, encouraging and engaging students to learn about ecological renewal and economic viability through local, sustainable food programs. These programs will be filmed and provided for future trainings and presentations.

Our courses are directed towards aspiring or beginning farmers and ranchers, showing what it takes to grow one’s own food through the application of a curriculum focused on sustainable local crops. Plots to Plates will offer the greater community field trips, short farm stays, organic growing at home, food-from-the-field cooking classes, and semester study programs for the future farm stewards of America.

Who’s Running this School? A partnership between Sweet Medicine Nation, Founder and President of Four Winds Foundation (501c3), and Sarahlee Lawrence, owner and producer of Rainshadow Organics, will join forces. Sarahlee and Sweet Medicine have a cumulative outdoor and ecology-based teaching history of forty years and are drawing upon the seasoned expertise of sixteen producers and collaborators to present this year’s launch of Plots to Plates. You can read more about these women and their growth over the last 10 years through the sites listed below.

We invite questions and inquiries.

www.rainshadow.com

www.fwfoundation.com

www.thefourelements.org

http://plotstoplates.wordpress.com

http://manyfootsteps.blogspot.com

Sweet Medicine Nation and Sarahlee Lawrence welcome you to join and follow Plots to Plates Blog site!

We had a fantastic group of people assembled for this project, including the local Slow Food Chapter, Central Oregon Locavore, and Oregon State University. We can’t wait to get started! We’re looking for fundraising ideas – got any good ones? Leave them in the comments section or email us at plotstoplates@gmail.com!

Interns will learn how food is produced, prepared, and consumed. Interns will learn to be good stewards of the land and build a base of knowledge that they may take with them, including an understanding of local food systems including production, processing, marketing, distribution, acquisition, and consumption. Interns will learn the basics of nutrition and pathways to accessing nutrition.

Our goal is to build stronger ties between farmers and consumers, and to give consumers a greater knowledge and appreciation for their food sources. We aim to improve our students’ health through physical contact with the land via experiential outdoor classrooms. Plots to Plates also aims to demonstrate the value of growing and eating local, sustainably produced food.

Applications for the 2011 program will be posted in late fall. Contact us via email at plotstoplates@gmail.com for more information! We hope to hear from you soon.

October harvest from Rainshadow Organics.