Their farm keeps growing in Portsmouth

By Jim McGaw, East Bay RI - Portsmouth Times

Brennan takes expanded education role as student-run farm adds programs, technology and community partnerships

I don’t know what I thought it was gonna be when we started. But I didn’t think this.”

Margie Brennan, co-founder, AgInnovation Farm

PORTSMOUTH — When Margie Brennan helped launch AgInnovation Farm six years ago, she knew she wanted students to get their hands dirty, learn some science and take ownership of a working farm.

She didn’t quite envision this.

There’s now a full-time farm manager. A heated high tunnel. Solar power. A walk-in refrigerator. Weather-monitoring equipment and soil sensors. A tractor shed. An orchard. Community gardens. Cooking equipment. A farmers market operation. Summer camps and field trips that bring hundreds of children through the gates.

And Brennan herself is embarking on a new chapter.

After leaving her position with Portsmouth schools, the AgInnovation co-founder has taken an expanded role as education director for the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District (ERICD), which operates the student-run farm off Jepson Lane.

“I don’t know what I thought it was gonna be when we started,” Brennan said during a recent tour of the farm. “But I didn’t think this.”

Her new role will allow her to devote more time to the educational side of AgInnovation, developing curriculum, working with schools and community organizations, and helping others create their own versions of the farm-to-school and place-based learning model that has evolved in Portsmouth.

Brennan had planned to return to the classroom this fall as a STEAM specialist after her previous position with the district was eliminated. Instead, she resigned and became an independent educational consultant, a move that also gives her the flexibility to continue working with Portsmouth schools.

Sara Churgin, ERICD executive director and AgInnovation’s other co-founder, said Brennan has been instrumental in building the program.

“Margie brings a unique combination of classroom experience, curriculum expertise, creativity, and an ability to build meaningful partnerships,” Churgin said. “Her leadership has been central to the growth of AgInnovation, and this expanded role will allow us to bring that model to even more students, educators, and communities.”

Brennan sees the potential for AgInnovation to become a regional resource for outdoor education. The farm has already hosted conferences and professional development programs and worked with schools and organizations outside Portsmouth.

“AgInnovation has shown what can happen when students are trusted to lead, teachers are supported, and community partners are part of the learning process,” Brennan said. “I’m excited to help others build programs that fit their own schools, students, and communities.”

More kids, more programs

There’s plenty happening at home, too.

Brennan said more than 1,000 children participated in farm programming this summer. AgInnovation partnered with the YMCA on two weeklong camps, and the farm is developing classes for homeschooled students while continuing its after-school programs and field trips. Brennan said the farm hosted 19 field trips in May and June last year alone.

A grant has also allowed AgInnovation to hire Michael Roy as its first full-time farm manager. Roy previously worked at Casey Farm for four years, and Brennan said his farming knowledge and temperament with children make him an ideal fit.

Roy sees AgInnovation as more than a place where children learn to grow vegetables.

“It’s giving back completely,” he said. “From bringing the food to the food pantry, stuff going to the classroom, the school lunchrooms, as well as that full circle of the kids seeing where the food comes from, and getting experience in agriculture.”

Beginning this fall, some produce grown at AgInnovation will make its way to Portsmouth students through taste tests and cafeteria meals.

The farm has also donated heavily to local food assistance programs, such as the Aquidneck Food Pantry. Brennan said nearly 1,000 pounds of produce was donated during June and July alone.

Signs point to all the wondrous things the AgInnovation Farm has to offer. The Hügelkultur sign refers to a traditional gardening method where you build raised planting beds by layering rotting logs, branches, and organic debris under a thick layer of soil.

Signs point to all the wondrous things the AgInnovation Farm has to offer. The Hügelkultur sign refers to a traditional gardening method where you build raised planting beds by layering rotting logs, branches, and organic debris under a thick layer of soil.

But increasingly, students are learning what else they can do with what they harvest.

This summer they made kale chips, bruschetta and a basil-and-garlic salt rub, among other things. A dehydrator allows them to preserve basil while retaining its flavor, and Brennan hopes to bring local farmers and food producers to the farm to teach students how agricultural products are made and marketed.

A high-tech farm

The expanding curriculum is decidedly 21st-century.

A Davis agricultural monitoring system collects weather and air quality data, while solar-powered sensors installed around the property measure soil conditions. An irrigation controller can regulate how much water different areas receive.

Students will collect, compare and interpret the data — precisely the sort of work Brennan said she emphasized as a science educator.

The technology is part of a larger goal: showing students that a career in agriculture doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lifetime behind a tractor.

Agriculture can involve hydroponics, environmental science, soil science, engineering, technology and data analysis, Brennan said. AgInnovation has relationships with the University of Rhode Island and the Navy and is exploring additional educational partnerships.

The physical farm has been growing, too. Its community garden has expanded from 16 to 27 beds. The high tunnel has been improved so it can be used for more of the year, and a portion is being turned into a classroom. The farm has added solar power and walk-in refrigeration, while an orchard planted by students several years ago is beginning to bear fruit.

Through it all, Brennan insists on one principle: The farm belongs to the students.

Children who participate put painted handprints on the high tunnel, a reminder that they helped build something that will remain after they leave.

“You can come back in a year, five years, 10 years, and your handprint’s still gonna be there,” Brennan tells them.

‘I get to hang with my friends’

That sense of ownership extends beyond planting and harvesting.

Last Thursday, student Harper Barrett helped staff AgInnovation’s table at the weekly Glen Farm Farmers Market hosted by Portsmouth Parks and Recreation. The table offered tomatillos, jalapeños, green beans, green peppers and eggplant. The arugula had already sold out.

“Any time that it’s offered, I normally come down for a little bit of time,” Barrett said.

She spends considerably more time at the farm itself, where planting, weeding and deadheading are among her favorite jobs. “I love seeing all my friends, and I also like bringing new people in,” Barrett said.

That may be as important as anything growing in the fields.

Brennan recently asked several student ambassadors what they liked most about AgInnovation. She deliberately avoided coaching them on what to say.

“Every single one of them started off with, ‘I get to hang with my friends,’” she recalled.

Some of those students, Brennan said, arrived at the farm without knowing anyone and became friends there. Members of the original AgInnovation group, now older and pursuing different interests, still maintain a group chat because of the connection they formed at the farm.

“This place helps those kids that never find a spot or don’t know where they belong,” Brennan said.

For a project built around agriculture, perhaps that is AgInnovation’s most successful crop.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Brennan said.