Lending a hand to a farm in need

When schools closed in March due to the pandemic, the UW Farm on the University of Washington Seattle campus was a tableau of partially-planted fields, half-tilled soil, locked facilities, and not a person in sight. Safe Start restrictions limited who was allowed on the farm.

“Because of COVID-19, only two farm workers were approved to be onsite,” said Perry Acworth, UW Farm manager. Perry was one of those two, along with an AmeriCorps volunteer. “This time of year, normally the farm would be abuzz with activity — students getting in hours for their courses or volunteers lending a hand. But almost overnight it was just the two of us… and the bees and birds.”

UW Farm is a 1.5-acre urban farm that also serves as a hands-on learning facility. Each year, hundreds of students and volunteers plant, maintain, harvest, wash, and pack produce that will ultimately supply local food pantries, subscription-based food boxes, and campus dining areas.

However, this year as the growing season began, no students or community volunteers were allowed to help due to COVID-19 restrictions. There was a real risk that early crops would rot in the field, and new crops would go unplanted.

Enter Anne Lund. Anne is director of the Graduate Coordinated Program in Dietetics for the Nutritional Sciences Program in UW’s School of Public Health. Part of her job is placing students into internships required for graduation and dietetics credentialing.

“In March we went remote, everything shut down,” said Anne. “I put out this big call to all my community partners that my students needed suitable internship experiences.”

Through the grapevine, Anne found a possible solution — the UW Farm.

“It just clicked,” she said. “The farm’s hurting, we can help. It’s the right thing to do.” Since her students were already approved to do internships during COVID-19, they could volunteer to help the UW Farm.

“It was the first bit of good news in weeks,” said Perry. “With all of the COVID-19 precautions, continuing farm operations is challenging.”

In no time, a handful of Anne’s students volunteered to help the UW Farm.

“I craved a chance to get my hands dirty. When the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it,” said Shira Stern, a UW student pursuing a master’s degree in Public Health Nutrition.

Since March, Shira has planted tomatoes, squash and potatoes, built trellises for peas, harvested and packed beets, learned fundamental agriculture concepts like soil composition and proper fertilizer use, and more. “And weeding… lots of weeding,” she said.

This season, UW Farm harvested five tons of organic produce and donated it to food insecure populations through UW Food Pantry, University District Food Bank, and Fare Start, local organizations providing food assistance and support to diverse and underrepresented/underserved communities in need. The successful growing season was due in part to the students who’ve spent months helping.

“This year’s harvest would not have been possible without the students who stepped in to help the farm’s skeleton crew,” said Perry. “Their help was critical. Thanks to Anne and her students!”

Shira, however, thinks the credit goes to Perry. “I could go on and on about the amazing work she does to make the farm function,” she said. “She is doing the impossible job of managing the farm with such little human power. I’m blown away by it. She does it with a smile and a joke.”

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