Our Farm
Although nearly everyone in our area has been involved to some extent in farming since a young age, few are familiar with sustainable agriculture. Our 20-acre farm serves as a “working laboratory” and model of sustainable farming techniques. Through hands-on workshops, TYS students learn what sustainable agriculture is, why it’s important and how to implement it.
Our farm has an ever-expanding variety of annual and perennial plantings. Our orchards include varieties of papaya, mango, avocado, cashew nut, sour apple, guava, and citrus. In our annual gardens we have planted tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, eggplant, cucumber, watermelon, cabbage, beans, and much more. It is an ongoing project to perfect the varieties and management practices that work the best for our bio-region. Our farm is buzzing with activity, from cultivating oyster mushrooms to maintaining our tilapia fish pond. We know you’re eager to dive deeper, and we’re working hard to bridge the gap between farm life and your screen. Explore our blog for a taste of what’s been happening, and sign up for our newsletter in the footer below to be the first to know about new content!
The kitchen scraps from the school feeds our 40+ laying hens, the hen's eggs feed our staff and students and the chicken manure feeds our gardens
Mushrooms
We have been producing our own oyster mushroom since 2018. Our mushroom cultivation provides a hands-on learning experience that demonstrates the cyclical, integrated and abundant processes of nature. The students learn all the processes, starting with pasteurizing the sawdust, then inoculating, harvesting and drying them in our homemade solar drier.
We are self-sustaining on our mushroom cultivation, producing all the mushrooms that the school needs.
Beekeeping
Our Bee Initiative was inspired by long time friend and supporter Robert Evans, who introduce our students and staff to the tools, knowledge and methods of beekeeping. For the year of 2020, we aim to have 10 active healthy hives.
