The UW Farm highlights the humble strawberry this month! Managed organically, the campus farm will add a sweet, culturally significant sustainable crop to its curriculum and production.

One of the best responses I’ve gotten after telling someone I’m a farmer is: “Are you okay?” And it is a fair question, though the answer changes based on what time of year it is. There’s the unbridled optimism of early spring, the growing suspense in April and May (what weather-related surprises will climate change bring us this year?), staring into the void in June, and then summer hits and the rest of the season is a downhill run. 

In 2023, the UW Farm experienced highs and lows, new accolades and challenges. We struggled with crop failures of melons, corn, and onions, while successfully cultivating quinoa and wheat for the very first time! Certified organic produce donated by the UW Farm in 2023 reached 2390.57 pounds, worth a retail value of $11,870.00.  The largest volume of donated produce was delivered to the campus UW Food Pantry. 

After our last volunteer shift of the Fall season on December 9th, the UW Farm has officially ended its 2023 growing season! One way that the farm team celebrated the end of the year was by coming together to construct a gingerbread farm for the annual School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) gingerbread competition. Some of the features of our gingerbread house included: different flavors of cake to represent stratified soil layers, gummy worms to represent soil organisms and microbial life beneath the surface, gingerbread versions of our interns, and even a bursting CSA box with veggies molded by students. 

My name is Winnie and this quarter I am the art intern on the farm. My relationship with the farm transformed after helping with Althea Rao’s (Multidisciplinary Artist, PhD student, UW DXARTS) art piece at the Mercer Court location. Her processional altar, Chestful of Whispers, was part of a larger piece through the Henry Art Gallery and artist Daniel Alexander Jones, taking place at 5 locations on the UW campus. 

My name is Olivia Johnson and I am a senior in Environmental Studies in the College of the Environment. I am the current education intern on the University of Washington Farm. I train guides who then lead tours of the UW Farm. Getting to know the space firsthand, and learning from an expert who is there on a regular basis, is a great benefit students involved in classes focused on urban farming and related topics. 

This week’s featured ingredient is the Aji Dulce pepper. Easily mistaken for its MUCH hotter cousin, the habanero, this pepper can seem very daunting to work with but is a delectable staple of many cuisines.

We had beautiful weather at last week’s sold out Harvest Dinner fundraiser. – Together we raised over 200% more than any other farm fundraising event.

In eight days, the well known UW Farm Harvest Dinner will be held at the UW Botanic Gardens Center for Urban Horticulture. An event that grew from humble beginnings in 2014, run by the farm manager and students, has expanded from a simple community meal to a farm-to-table annual fundraiser.

Our ‘Bilko’ Cabbage, that is included in your CSA, is a type of Napa or Chinese Cabbage. Napa cabbage is a large-headed cabbage with firmly packed, pale green leaves that you will usually find next to bok choy in Western supermarkets.