Over the Fence Urban Farm

Cooperatively farming small patches of Earth in Columbus, OH

Tag Archives: Experiential Learning


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Hope for the Future

This is Leo.

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In February, he wrote me this email:

Hi my name is Leo and I’m currently a freshman at Ohio State. I happened to find the Facebook page for Over the Fence Urban Farm, and immediately knew it was something I wanted to support. I’m originally from Hawaii, where through school trips and community service opportunities I was able to go to and help out at multiple local organic farms. I would love to be able to come and help out in your garden. Please email me back with any info regarding ways I can help.

I wrote back and let him know things would get going in March and gave him a rough idea of what days of the week might be good to come around. Low and behold, the first week in March, he got back in touch! He wanted to try to come around before he left for spring break. Things didn’t work out that week, but once he was back in town and completed his midterms, he reached out again. We went back and forth for a month and a half until, yesterday, we connected, just days before he leaves for summer recess.

Leo showed up on time. He was enthusiastic about what we’re doing here – asked questions, shared stories from his own experiences, smiled, helped with the chores, played with the chickens, and took a big bag of greens back to the dorm to make a salad for his friends.

Thank you, Leo. Thank you for reaching out and keeping in touch. Thank you for giving me hope for the future at a time when so many things in our country and around the world seem to be upside down and falling to pieces. Thank you for being a mensch. Have a great break and we’ll see you again in August!

(If you’d  like to read more about young people working on the farm in this post from last summer, “Help from Abroad.”)


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Help from abroad

This is Carla.


She is sixteen. She’s from Berlin, Germany and visited Columbus this spring for a few months. While she was here she attended a local high school a few days a week and volunteered at an elementary school. Her host families took her on a few road trips. And she hung around the farm, learning and lending a hand.


It was nice having Carla around. She followed directions and shared memories of her family’s balcony garden. I appreciated hearing her observations about the school she attended while she was here and about her own school back home. Her friends were also out and about visiting new places, meeting new people. I wish I could hear them share stories of their adventures when they get back.

I wonder how different teens in this country would be if they lived in another place for a few months before they left high school and home. Some alternative schools in our area have a walk-about term for seniors. While I haven’t heard of any yet who have worked on urban farms I am sure there have been some have. (If you know of any, I’d be curious to know…). And those kids might decide to pursue lives connected to the earth as a result of their experiences. They might be the future farmers of America, working to shape our food system.

Carla came to Over the Fence because one of her host mothers is a friend and member of our CSA. She doesn’t have plans to farm at this point or even join a community garden back home. But maybe, someday, in some small way, her time with us will have an impact on the choices she makes.

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