SAN DIEGO — A nonprofit farm in San Diego is growing not only a wide variety of plants and food, but is also helping the community grow stronger.
Growing healthy plants starts with the soil, something Alex Mersereau and Katrina Matese have been learning at farm school.
“It really matters where your food comes from, and it matters what nutrients are in it and that’s solely affected by how healthy the soil is,” Matese said.
“One day, you know, I’d like to be able to help feed my family with my own grown food and provide some great nutrition,” Matese said.
They are working at Wild Willow Farm, an educational farm in South San Diego, where they get hands-on training in regenerative farming. The class is learning how to use tools and equipment, as well as best planting and growing practices.
The farm school program is the first time for many of the students that they’re diving into how to grow and take care of the earth for themselves; and they’re all learning together and supporting each other.
“Community is a really big part here. There’s so many good people,” Matese said. “I’ve met so many incredible people. It’s an honor, honestly.”
“It makes you pay a lot more attention to the food that you eat and where it comes from and how it’s grown,” Matese said.
Sierra Reiss is the education manager at Wild Willow Farm, in partnership with the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County, and said they offer classes, field trips and courses that explore things like growing your own food, composting and the roles animals play on a farm.
“A lot of students come into this not knowing anything about gardening and they can come out knowing how to start their own small-scale or larger scale farm,” Reiss said.
Wild Willow also has a Community Supported Agriculture program that gives locals access to fresh grown and affordable produce. Reiss said they offer something for everyone to learn, no matter their age, background or interests.
“There are spaces like this within a huge city. We’re in San Diego. It’s chaotic here but there’s spaces like this that exist, where you can get in touch with the land, and get in touch with yourself and local community,” she said.
Matese said that before she came to Wild Willow, she felt detached from nature; now they all feel a stronger connection to the earth.
“It definitely will stick with me when I’m like at the grocery store thinking about what I’m buying,” Matese said. “It’s kind of our responsibility now to just take care of them and foster that for the next generation and just keep it going.”
Wild Willow has classes on everything from beekeeping to canning to planting and growing tomatoes. For more information, visit their website.