With our Farmer Training Programs, field trips, summer camps, and community events all postponed for the foreseeable future, we put our limited on-farm internet to the ultimate test throughout the spring. We jumped on the Zoom train and held online gardening workshops and virtual knit-nights, streamed Facebook Live animal visits and demos, moved our annual Memorial Day Plant Sale to an online pre-order format, and held our very first virtual Sheep and Wool Day!

We also launched a new series of at-home activity kits and, more recently, an Alaskan-based hands-on curriculum and activity guide for students and families diving into distance learning this school year! As a way to support the members of our community who were being hit hardest by COVID-19, including those struggling with job loss, healthcare costs, etc, we launched a “Pay What You Can” system on all of our online and mail-order education programs.

Thanks to the unbelievable response we received from our food relief fundraiser, funds from our amazing sponsors and grant funds, the majority of our summer was focused on providing food for the community. 100% of the food grown at the Hunter, Pearl Creek, and Woodriver school gardens was distributed to those in need, while produce grown on the Farm was distributed to both our CSA shareholders, Southside Market customers, and to our emergency food relief partners. With those most vulnerable in our community in mind, we redesigned the Southside Community Farmers Market into a pre-order pick-up only system, and extended our Pay What You Can discounts to all Market customers, offering up to 50% off to anyone in need of fresh food.