Welcome to Yurts and Dirt—a blog to relay the happenings at Osgood Farm, a hands on educational extension of Paul Smith’s College. This is an exciting year at the farm and it’s our first season to have crops in the field: Potatoes, onions, kale, Brussel sprouts, spinach, and Swiss chard. In addition to vegetables that will go to the College’s Farm to Table program, during the two week course Sustainability Field Experience, six Paul Smith’s students swept out and began repair on the old barn. The students put in many work and academic hours on the site while capturing their experience in a short documentary. During the course, they read Up Tunket Road—The Education of a Modern Homesteader by Philip Ackerman-Leist. The Osgood site is shaping up nicely and we have the early makings of a campus farm. The mission of this blog is to capture the transformation of the site while providing scholarly information and insight regarding some of our most pressing environmental and social issues of our times. We aren’t just pulling sod and weeds out here—we are contemplating, reflecting and problem solving. We are honing communication skills and we are building community. This past Sunday, we had our first Community Day and a hard dose of June rain. While it rained, we worked in the barn and a set of raised beds. There will be plenty of Community Days and events as the summer gets under way. Stay tuned and come out for a visit!
