SSFS Farm Blog - Sep. 2025: Taming the Wild

By Francis Zell '00, SSFS Farmer Educator

The farm on campus has tremendous potential. About an acre and a half, it sits almost level on an elevated pad, undoubtedly an old pasture or barn lot from when our campus was a farm. To the southeast is a small hedge row and the school pond. To the south is a shallow downhill slope to a mostly-open area covered with shrubs and small trees. There is a campus residence to the west, and our Friends House and Baltimore Yearly Meeting neighbors are to the North and East. From a growing and harvesting perspective, it is wonderfully ideal. I know a number of commercial growers who would envy a spot like this!

The initial preparation of the ground, however, has not been without its challenges! With fertile soil but no regular care over the last several months, the weeds were bound and determined to take over the whole garden in short order. The scene in August resembled something out of a Little Shop of Horrors play!  Every noxious and invasive weed I know was out there.

However, with some brush hogging and tilling, we were able to bring a portion of the garden back into control. Weed control is a long game, but we are working hard on it! I am always amazed with what I find while tilling. This time I found (or rather the tiller found) an old set of tire chains from maybe an old golf cart or small tractor, what looks to be old metal brake lines from a car, a ½” piece of rebar, and even more goodies. The tiller doesn’t exactly love finding these artifacts, but it’s always fun to see what gets unearthed.

We are going with a system of garden beds called hilled beds. They are still on the ground, but they are elevated beyond the path and walkways. This provides many benefits. Visually, it shows students where to plant seeds and where to walk. It also provides superior drainage since it is slightly elevated, which helps with blight and disease. And, it creates a space that's very neat, proper, and tidy. Each bed will be 50 feet long by 30 inches wide, which creates a standardized system for planting and using things like row covers, plastic, shade cloth, etc. The beds get compost on top of them, and the paths are covered with cardboard and wood chips. This helps with weed control and compaction.

The Upper School Farming for Fitness PE class has been doing a great job preparing these hilled beds, moving the compost on the beds and laying down cardboard and wood chips on the pathways. Just look at how beautiful they are shaping up to be!

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades have come out to help so far, and all the Lower School grades will be visiting soon as the space is made a little safer and more tamed for folks of all sizes. So far there are 17 beds prepared, which will carry us through the fall into the spring.

Five beds have been planted with lettuce, radishes, and other cold hardy greens. The remaining 12 will be split between garlic and onions, which will grow all winter long and be harvested in spring or early summer.  Throughout the winter, we will be working on establishing more beds to plant as spring comes along, cleaning up the fence, and improving our equipment. We hope to update this blog at least every other week to keep the community informed about our developments along the way.