March 28, 2024

Field trip to the farm in New Virginia

NEW VIRGINIA — On Wednesday, May 13, more than 60 members of a homeschool group from the Des Moines area participated in a field trip that took them to an acreage on the edge of New Virginia.

The acreage, owned by Jim and Leola Boyce and run by their son Andy and wife Kristina Boyce is a busy place with goats and their floppy-eared kids, hair sheep and their lambs, laying hens with their cackling, and baby chicks that will grow up to provide meat and eggs.

The acreage is full of organic aronia berries, organic and natural raised garden produce in raised beds, with intense companion planting.

Several compost piles are constantly in process, thanks to chickens and goats and sheep, grass clippings, raked up leaves, wood chips and a lot of layering.

Late winter gutter gardening in a hoop house has provided a plethora of greens already being harvested and sold at farmers markets.

With all this agriculture in a small area, the homeschool students and their chaperones had a great hands-on learning experience, petting the animals, tasting kale, spinach and lettuces, smelling herbs, feeling the warmth inside a compost pile and smelling its fresh earthy scent and getting a better idea of what it takes to get food on their plate.