AMY'S FARM

Last Saturday, our environmental science class took a field trip to Amy's Farm in Ontario, CA. I had no clue I live about ten minutes aways from this awesome little farm, and I was so pleased to learn all about the good things that come from this place. When we got to the farm, we were led on a tour and told all about the agriculture and the animal raising that is practiced on the farm. We took a walk through their sustainable garden first. They had a really good variety of vegetables and other crops being grown, such as, grapes, sunflowers, fennel, dinosaur kale, eggplant, pomegranates, carrots, arugula, rainbow swiss chard, and plenty of others. We were even able to try some of the crops that were being grown. The garden was really amazing to experience first hand, because we were able to see that organic farming practices can be really useful and can lead to plenty of really delicious and healthy fruits and vegetable without any of the negative environmental impacts that come from industrial agriculture. You could really see the amount of love and care that is put into the garden there when you take a walk through it. 

After walking through the garden, we were able to feed some rainbow swiss chard to the animals, and pet the goats that they had. You could tell that the animals there are raised well and that they live happy lives. Some of the animals that they have at the farm are goats, geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs (and a cat that thinks its a pig), and horses. The animals have great big spaces to roam around, unlike industrial farms that keep a large amount of animals in a very confined space. We were able to learn a little bit about each animal, and we got to milk a cow as well, which was a really great experience. 

Overall, I think the most important thing that I took away from our visit to Amy's Farm is that sustainable agriculture is so important in keeping the earth, and those who live on the earth, healthy and happy. Industrial agricultural practices can be so detrimental to the environment, and that is why it is especially important to see farms like Amy's Farm do what they do. Hopefully they can inspire others, like they've inspired me, to either practice sustainable farming techniques on their own, or support places that do.