Giving Tuesday 2021 Invites You to Help Patterson Grow More!
It’s Giving Tuesday time, when many thankful folks enjoy the opportunity to support their favorite non-profits who are doing valuable work that makes a difference. So, this Tuesday following Thanksgiving 2021, we want to thank you for your ongoing support – either for participating in some of our inspiring workshops (Shiitake Log Plugging, Mushroom Foraging and Biochar Masterclasses), volunteering in numerous ways, and gifting financially or via donating items needed—like the 3 greenhouses that our Patterson School alum Sam Ogilvie did this past year! Remember to donate on Tuesday at 8am to increase your chances for the 100% match that is possible.
Patterson School Foundation and its Patterson School Incubator Farm have been incredibly productive this year, even amidst this ongoing pandemic. From expanding our newly heated greenhouse, now complete with adjacent harvest prep area, an outside shower, and a coolbot built into the Saggy Barn, to acquiring our first Biochar Kontiki unit, we are growing our capacity to educate more farmers, and improve our soil and environment. One of Sam’s donated greenhouses has been delivered and will be erected within the next 2 months, and the retrieval of the second greenhouse will begin this week.
Other new game-changing additions have been the hiring of our new Patterson School Incubator Farm Director, Kade Castle! We needed a Marine in our midst, and Kade comes with a ‘can do veteran approach to getting things done’! He grew up ranching, and although young, he has a lifetime of experience with livestock. Kade will soon be moving in with his Pineywoods cows (an heirloom breed brought over by Colombus), fowl and sheep by this Spring. After completing his needed fencing, he’ll be mob grazing his cattle to regenerate a 5-acre organic Incubator Farmers plot across from campus, as well as the 7-acre Betty’s Meadow plot off Buffalo Cove Road, which has longed for this regenerative practice.
Two exciting new Incubator Farmers have joined our community this past year. Colleen Feeney, owner of Sweet Dreams Patisserie, has quickly grown her business to require 3 kitchen working days per week. And Brian Duncan, who came to us to grow hemp organically in the Spring, has already established his Field Lab 7 company that creates CBD extracts and develops new products! Brian is quite the inventor and has graciously began researching a hemp-stem plus lime formula to insulate our, soon to be delivered, 40-foot freight container into a coolbot.
The growing synergy that is palpable within our budding Incubator Farm community is exciting! We wish you’d come visit us soon and enjoy some Patterson Koolaide, but until you can, thank you for your support from afar!
Please donate at https://www.facebook.com/pattersonschoolfoundation or email me at kittygrosati@gmail.com
Thanks for your contributions to Patterson!
Kitty Rosati, Heir Board member and Chair of the Organic Farming Committee