Our Fields

Turning a Parking Lot into a Farm

As one can imagine, building healthy soil is a long-term operation, using science and technology in concert with nature. Farm Lab’s soil was tested and professionally analyzed to find that using best practices like spading cover crops into the soil, has already transformed these once fallow fields into a good foundation for farmland. Extensive preparation and amending is building a soil that is truly teeming with life and ready for a new season of healthy crops.

Coastal Roots, the new nonprofit arm of the Leichtag Foundation, will help build soil fertility and manage the succession of crops for the school lunch program.

The summer harvest has been substantial and we are proud to be the first school district to preserve summer bounty for the next school year’s lunches.

Soil Analysis

In August 2015, EUSD contracted Waypoint Analytical, a prestigious provider of agricultural soil test data, to perform a thorough analysis of the soil in the growing fields at EUSD Farm Lab. Samples were taken at four different locations in our growing fields, planting beds and future farm locations. Waypoint reported results in four categories:

Saturation Extract (Plant Suitability)
pH
Extractable Nutrients (such as Calcium, Copper, Zinc, etc.)
Particle Size

The results show healthy levels for growing a full range of crops in accordance with EPA guidelines. Minor amendments of organic compost will be added to enhance the health of the soil and cover crops grown to build the soil's fertility.

To view the report, click here.

For more details, please contact our EUSD Farm Lab Director, Mim Michelove.

Water Use

Responsible water use is one of our tenets as demonstrated by our water use over the summer. In the 8 weeks the EUSD kids were out for summer break, we were able to grow, harvest and preserve 4,000 lbs of food for use in the classrooms. Not only were we thrilled to take advantage of the summer bounty and save it for use when the seasons change, but we did so using less than half the water used in the average local home during the same period of time.

Organic Certification

EUSD is the first certified organic school district in America, where food growing for the school lunch program comes from district-owned organic farms.