The HEAL Farm
At The San Mateo County School Farm, we create memorable opportunities for students to immerse themselves in nature and cultivate a connection to fresh fruits and vegetables through planting, harvesting, cooking and preparing produce directly from the field.
The San Mateo County School Farm is an outdoor experiential learning space and market farm operated by The HEAL Project. We teach Kindergarten-12th grade students where their food comes from and why it matters.
Visitors to the farm are offered the opportunity to explore our fields and the surrounding hiking trails of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Through various farm-based programs, we weave science lessons with hands-on learning to create an outdoor educational environment that fosters curiosity, a love of fresh food and respect for our natural world.
The HEAL Project has been operating The San Mateo County School Farm since 2010 in conjunction with the San Mateo County Health System on land provided by Dave Lea of Cabrillo Farms. Thank you to Dave Lea and Cabrillo Farms for their continued contributions, support and advice as our farms grow together.
Our Farming Philosophy
At The San Mateo County School Farm, The HEAL Project strives for sustainable farming practices that reflect our desire for farms to be community hubs, wildlife habitat and vibrant sources of food and fiber for the local community.
What this looks like in terms of cultivation practices is:
NO BIOCIDES: ie pesticide, herbicide, fungicide. To protect the health of residents, visitors and customers and fulfill our goal of creating habitat for critters of all sizes, we pledge not to use chemicals that kill, harm or repel living things. Instead of a “pest-negative” approach to pest management, we take a “plant-positive” approach. This means that we take care to create healthy soil so we have vigorous crops. We also choose appropriate species, cultivars and seasons to plant.
MAINTAINING SOIL COVER: Soil is the heart of our farm. We aim to keep growing plants and/or mulch on as much of our soil as possible at all times in order to feed the soil food web and help our soil store carbon and stay healthy.
MINIMIZE SOIL DISTURBANCE: Similar to the above cultivation practice, we seek to avoid mechanical disturbance of the soil to the greatest extent possible. This means reducing our reliance on plowing and rototilling soil in the interest of building soil organic matter, all while reducing our diesel usage.
FARMS AS WHOLE ECOSYSTEMS: Different areas on our farm perform different ecological functions that support each other. For example, perennial crops, annual row crops, rainwater catchment, bioswale and pollinator areas all enhance the function of one other.
Our farming philosophy encourages natural systems to do what they are designed to do with minimal inputs and to sequester carbon to help reverse the effects of climate change.
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