The Pomona College Organic Farm is an organic farm on of the southeast corner of

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

's campus in Claremont, California. It is within Blanchard Park (more commonly known as "the Wash"). It was begun as an experimental

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

project by a group of three friends in 1998, and was institutionalized in 2006.

History

The farm was begun in 1998, when students began composting dining hall waste and planting crops in an unused portion of campus.

Masanobu Fukuoka was a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, herbicide and pesticide free cultivation methods from which he created a particular method of agricu ...

's book ''The One Straw Revolution'' provided the initial inspiration. One student remained on campus to tend to the farm over the summer, but, according to the farm's website, only a single tomato grew. Over the next few years, students from the "Gorilla Farming Club" worked to improve the nitrogen content of the soil and remove rocks. During this time, the farm developed a reputation as an activist space, with extensive marijuana smoking, squatting, and other exploits. This, combined with the farm's unofficial status, led to strained relations with the college's administration. In 2002, students constructed an earth dome using

Nader Khalili Nader Khalili ( fa, نادر خلیلی; 1936–2008) was an Iranian-born American architect, author, and educator. He is best known for his inventive structures that incorporated a range of atypical building materials to provide shelter in the d ...

superadobe Superadobe is a form of earthbag construction that was developed by Iranian architect Nader Khalili. The technique uses layered long fabric tubes or bags filled with adobe to form a compression structure. The resulting beehive-shaped structur ...

designs, but the college demolished it at the start of the fall 2002 semester because of safety and permitting concerns. In April 2003, plans began for a new, institutionally-approved Earth Dome, which was completed in 2005. In May 2006, the farm and the college reached an agreement on rules for the farm, and it has since become institutionalized and expanded to include the East Farm.

Layout

The farm occupies of the far southeastern corner of

's campus, within the naturalistic portion of the campus known as "the Wash" (formally Blanchard Park). It is split into two halves, separated by the college's

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

field. The West Farm includes the superadobe Earth Dome, as well as a number of fruit trees, rock-lined student plots, an outdoor classroom, and a chicken coop. The East Farm has a 162-square-foot greenhouse and is used to grow crops and compost waste. A number of

coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It may be shrubby, depending on age and growing location, but is ...

trees dot the area.

Operations

The farm grows some of the food used in Pomona's dining halls, composts dining hall waste, operates a food stand, and facilitates a course on agriculture in the college's environmental analysis program. It also hosts a number of events, including an annual "FarmFest", and provides a space for quiet retreat. It is funded by proceeds from produce sales, the Associated Students of Pomona College, and the Environmental Analysis Department. Pomona alumnus

Ronald Lee Fleming Ronald Lee Fleming, F.A.I.C.P., is the founder and president of The Townscape Institute, a not-for-profit public interest planning organization founded in the United States in 1979. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. ...

has also donated to the farm, funding a statue.

References

External links

*
Archive at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library
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History

Layout

Operations

Further reading

References

External links