After a long day digging in your flower beds, nothing sounds better than a cold beer. It’s not too different for a decades-worth of volunteers at Moss Haven Farm. After ten years building MHE’s school garden program, they’re planning to celebrate at Oak Highlands Brewery April 30.
The Moss Haven Farm began in March of 2012 with a simple patch of grass beside the school’s playground. Today, the farm includes a chicken coop and 23 raised beds growing lettuce, carrots, radishes, herbs and produce of all size and variety. Moss Haven Farm has been recognized as an American Heart Association Teaching Garden and was named a United Way Healthy Zone School. Founder Kim Aman, known as Farmer Kim to the students and parents who love her, has been invited to the White House and recently returned from an all-expense trip to Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Habitat.
OHB is a longtime supporter of the farm, especially since brewery founders Derrin Williams and Brad Mall are Moss Haven dads. The OHB event includes dinner and a program to recognize parents and teachers who envisioned the farm a decade ago and the volunteers who’ve kept it running.
“Every week, every Moss Haven class goes to the farm,” says Kristi Poteet, board president for the farm’s nonprofit organization. “We’re proud of our efforts to make the farm sustainable – from our funding methods to the materials we use on site to the new generation of volunteers we recruit. The farm is an entrepreneurial story, and we’re proud of its longevity.”
Moss Haven Farm was created to cultivate students’ respect for the earth and educate them about the food growing process. Teachers and volunteers encourage healthy lifestyles and a lifelong interest in responsible environmental practices.
If you’d like to support Moss Haven Farm, tickets to the 10th anniversary celebration are $90 per person, $160 per couple or $45 for RISD staff and may be purchased online here. You may also purchase tickets to the raffle, with prizes like tickets to Disneyland, time at Summer Farm Camp or a chance to become “Farmer for the Day” with Farmer Kim.
The party runs from 7-10 p.m. April 30. Oak Highlands Brewery is at 10484 Brockwood.
