Homegrown Farms
Homegrown Farms is located on our campus and is a full working farm providing produce, eggs, fish, and honey to the students and staff of our school. Our students use this environment to learn, grow, and work.
Digital Tour
Farm Facts
Aquaponics/Hydroponics: The aquaponics system houses 300 tilapia fish and is responsible for sending 2,000 pounds of fresh produce annually to the school cafeteria. Our hydroponics system grows a variety of different plants, such as strawberries.
Organic Produce Field: Students assist the field manager in planting, harvesting, and washing the produce. The 50 acre field provides over 10,000 pounds of fresh, organic produce, including 17 vegetable varieties, to the school cafeteria and student group homes every season.
Student Garden: To promote learning and creativity, students are offered their own garden plots every summer.
Extended Season: Students continue to learn about different environmental growing methods and harvest fresh produce in the cold winter months. Extended season growing has been modified to be completely accessible to all GLS students.
Try It Tuesday: We have developed a way to make eating vegetables fun for the students through a program called ‘Try it Tuesday’. This program takes a featured vegetable from hydroponics, aquaponics, the produce field, or extended season. A simple recipe is used, and the students try the vegetable in a fun new way.
Honeybee Hives: The students have access to fresh honey. While the students’ participation in the maintenance of the hives is limited for safety, they are still educated on the importance of honeybees, pollination, and the sweet treat the entire process brings.
Greenhouse: The warm sunny greenhouse provides a cheery environment during Wisconsin’s cold winters. Vocational student workers then help sell the plants and flowers at two Homegrown Farms local retail huts in the community.
Animals: Homegrown Farms is home to 5 male goats. There are also two chicken coops on the farm. The students enjoy feeding the hard-working egg layers with left over produce greens. In return, the chickens provide the farm with hundreds of eggs weekly.
The Farm Store: The Farm Store sells items grown at the farm, which are harvested, packaged, and decorated by the students. Some of the items sold include eggs, organic produce, tilapia, black oil sunflower bird seed, sunflower oil, a variety of farm or outdoor themed arts/crafts created by the students, honey, and much more.
Our Students and the Farm
GLS students utilize the farm in several different ways:
To Learn: The farm is used by our classrooms for lessons in a variety of subjects, including zoology, ecology, and math.
To Grow: Students are involved in all aspects of the farm production from planting to harvest. Classrooms may also have their own garden to grow their choice of plants.
To Work: Our vocational program is integrated directly into farm operations, with students choosing from any number of jobs to help the farm succeed and continue to provide for the school.
For more information about admission to Genesee Lake School please click here.
For general information about Homegrown Farms, please contact us.