Eight new koi didn't make themselves easy to catch, but within a couple of days of arriving in our aquaponics system, they'd settled in like the old-timers — already taking an interest in their "work," their colors starting to deepen to match their older tank mates. Jeff uses this complex growing system to teach his students topics in biology, ecology, engineering, and horticulture by growing food indoors. The newest eight will do double duty this winter: bringing extra nutrients to the greens growing alongside them, and giving Liberty Prairie's Animal Husbandry interns a new stage of animal development to observe, monitor, and care for through the cold months.
Soon, Jeff and his classes will incubate this semester's baby chicks at both Central and North High Schools. He's adding genetics to the lesson, as our breeding program moves more intentionally toward the Cochin variety — which is calm, sweet-tempered, feather-footed, and built to handle tough weather. Students hatch the chicks in late October and raise them at school until they move to the farm for winter care with the interns.
New life on our own farm got us thinking about new life just down the road, too. Last week, I visited our neighbors at Kroll's Fall Harvest Farm for advice and mentoring on our goats, and came home having met their newest arrivals: two Nigerian Dwarf goat kids, scampering out of a shady corner just long enough to nurse before tucking back in for a nap. It was a good reminder that fall is a season to take time to connect with neighbors, animals, and the land itself.
So consider this your invitation to do just that. Visit Kroll's Fall Harvest Farm this fall to meet their new kids for yourself, and grab your tickets to the Fall Farm Festival of Good to celebrate the fall season, student learning and growing food at Liberty Prairie.
