Kickstarter

Big thanks to everyone that helped us reach our kickstarter goal, we couldn't have done this without you!  With a few days still left, we encourage you to further donate. The extra donations will allow this farm to do all of the additions that are currently in debate just because of funding. We're on a mission to bring farming and food to every student's mind and now is the time to make Bard College Farm as influential as possible. 

The seeds of learning planted today will effect the decisions of tomorrow. Students and faculty at Bard College know this.

With a farm on campus, we are directing the minds of all the students to develop a deeper connection to their food and better understand its processes of growth and distribution. In an age that struggles to feed a fast-growing population, and in an age of dwindling resources, this type of engagement and learning is hugely important. We would like our college education to reflect and facilitate this engagement.

The one-acre farm that we are proposing will do this by allowing students to grow food in ways that are ecologically sound. It will demonstrate the methodologies for sustainable food production at a scale that matters, and it will be responsive to the latest scientific and agricultural practices for growing substantial crops. It will afford the type of hands-on learning that is necessary for so many academic classes, many of which belong to the expanding Environmental and Urban Studies program, and it will help connect Bard to the rich community of farmers found in the Hudson Valley.

Getting this farm off the ground is essential if we want to advance food-awareness/conversation on campus, and WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE IT HAPPEN! We have until APRIL 1st to raise $20,000 dollars. The school has pledged to match us 2:1 if we are able to do so. The plans have been drawn, now we need the funding.

Help us plant these seeds in a bed of conscious learning, and help us till the soil for a future of critical and conscious decision-makers!

A row of strawberries at the Bard College Community Garden

Objectives:

* To provide Bard students, faculty, and staff with the opportunities to work on a farm and to learn the skills needed to produce food organically and economically.

* To provide links between classroom experiences and hands-on work, specifically food production.

* To model the most economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable farming practices available.

* To serve as a resource and link to the greater Red Hook community, this includes workshops, children’s programming.

* To provide members of the Bard community with locally and sustainably produced food of the highest quality.

* To teach members of the Bard community, by serving food grown on the farm, perhaps even harvested by the students themselves, that eating is an agricultural act.

* To distribute weekly boxes of produce to members of the local community who lack the access to health fruits and vegetables. 

The passive solar heated greenhouse we will use to start transplants. 

Budget for Bard Farm 

Permanent one-time expenditures

Fence (locust posts, post-driving, deer fencing) $2500

Wet tap water main & lay permanent pipe $1500

Shed for storage and hay $1500

Drip Irrigation setup $1000

Wood chips $1000

Leaf mold $2000

Manure $1000

Set up expenditures $10,500

Tools

Hand tools (shovels, rakes, hoes, etc.) $500

Broad forks $500

Hoses/watering equipment $500

Seeders $100

Wheelbarrows/carts $500

Yearly Supplies

Straw $1000

Seeds/plants $300

Mineral amendments $500

Miscellaneous supplies (twine, stakes, etc.) $500

Contingency (e.g. leveling the uneven site, lumber) $3000

Annual material costs $7,400-$8,000

Personnel

Farm Manager (8 months: April-November) $15,000-$25,000

Student Workstudy during the school year $3000

Student Labor during the summer $2000

Annual Personnel costs $20,000-$30,000

First Year Totals $32,900-$43,500

Subsequent Years Totals $22,000-$33,000