The Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) Farm School has been growing organic vegetables and training new farmers in sustainable agriculture since last summer.
The development of both the farm and the school emerged from a partnership between TFN and the Institute of Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Since last year, students, staff, teachers and community members have been busy building a new farm from the ground up. Participating students are enrolled in the program from March to November and get to be involved in every stage of the growing season from planning, to seeding, preserving, harvesting and seed saving.
The farm sits on 20 acres of TFN land near 52nd Street and 28th Avenue. It has four acres of market garden, two acres of mixed fruit orchards, greenhouses, pigs and laying hens. A big portion of the farm will be used as incubator plots for students who have completed the program in following years. Students are eligible to steward a quarter to a half acre piece of land for up to three years and try their hands at starting their own micro farm business.
The TFN Farm School is committed to ecological and restorative farming methods and will be fully certified organic by the end of the summer. Some of the projects undertaken this year including the planting of a habitat enhancing hedgerow of mostly native plants and the installation of solar panels to serve all of the electricity needs of the farm.
The TFN Farm can be found at the Tsawwassen Friday Market, the Ladner Village Market and Mt. Pleasant Market in Vancouver. More info can be found at www.kpu.ca/tfnfarm.
-Submitted by Kwantlen Polytechnic University
