ONE of our goals here at Grayhill School Farm (GHSF) is to connect gardeners with land.
Here is our first success story for 2017:

The Gardeners

Ron and Bonnie moved into our West Point, Georgia area from North Dakota.  They have terrific farming skills, but their small plot of land has poor soil and a lot of shade cover, which is less than ideal for growing a vegetable garden.  We got to know them when they attended some of our classes and we helped build a small nursery greenhouse on their property.  It was quickly apparent that they could use more gardening space.

The Land

RabbitEye Farm (REF), which grows blueberries and blackberries, had been preparing the soil on a front plot for a couple of years now, but it was still not being used.  With GHSF’s mission of connecting gardeners with land, REF decided that the area could be used for a better purpose! Ron and Bonnie began gardening in this new designated area in early 2017.  REF helped by adding on to their irrigation system to make it easier for them to water all the vegetable plants.  These are a few photos of that garden.

The Results: Enough produce to sell to you!

The results were fantastic!  Produce from this garden will be for sale at RabbitEye Farm right here in West Point, Georgia, just off of I-85 exit 6, on regular berry picking days: (link for directions below)
Thursdays and Sundays in June.  
Morning 6AM to 10AM and
Evening 5PM to 9PM. 
How convenient!  You can pick berries and get your produce at the same stop, all while supporting local farmers!

For easy directions click HERE.

The Red-Clay Gardening class was deemed a success!  Thank you to all who attended, your questions were great.  If you didn’t make it to our first permaculture session, there are still more things to learn.  Our next topic is “No Till/No Weed Winter Prep”.  I want to clarify the time of these sessions held on Sundays.  From 2:00 PM until around 3:00 PM will be the “educational part”, and then from 3:30 PM until 6:00 PM are tours, questions, discussion, fellowship and networking.  You do not have to stay for the entire time.  If you are only interested in the educational topic, then your time commitment is from 2:00 PM to around 3:00 PM.  Remember, these sessions are free in the month of January.  The meeting place is RabbitEye Farm 279 Grayhill School Road, West Point, GA (for now), but we are technically located next door.  With this wonderful weather, and the nature of our topics, we will be outside at RabbitEye Farm anyway.

As I take the Permaculture Design Course from Geoff Lawton, I am trying to provide a place where folks can gather to learn and share about sustainable gardening relevant to our area. Permaculture is an important movement that we all need to take part in.  If you are not familiar with the term permaculture, I will be glad to introduce you to it.

Gray Hill School Farm is an educational source.  We are a not-for-profit organization dedicated to keeping our community and land healthy through sustainable agriculture education.

Agriculture After Church at Gray Hill School Farm – A great way to start the New Year! Gray Hill School Farm is hosting a series of free educational, family friendly events to promote sustainable, healthy lifestyles. Sundays 2pm-6pm. Learn what local farmers and gardeners are doing to make the transition to sustainability easier with hands on workshops, lectures, farm tours and a chance to hang out with some really great people. Our first workshop addresses abundant gardening in red clay soils.

Gray Hill School Farm campus is a hammock hanging paradise, adjacent to, and surrounded by, RabbitEye Farm.  Beech groves, springs, and streams abound on the walking trails of the 60-acre property. We are studying and implementing Permaculture ethics and techniques to protect these assets while creating eco-systems designed to self-regenerate topsoil while growing more and more of our own food.

Gray Hill School Farm is currently considering best-use applications for rental of on-campus housing/meeting/garden areas for family, interns, home school groups, or similar- with an interest in sustainable agriculture research and education.

Beyond sustainable, Gray Hill School Farm is a ministry of community abundance. Our vision is to connect growers with land, and teach children and adults a regenerative process of growing healthy food for themselves and their neighbors.  Shared, entrepreneurial opportunities and experiments are encouraged.