In 2013, a small group of students, staff and community volunteers began a slow and steady effort to clear the six-foot-tall weeds that had taken over the existing small CHS garden.  Since that time, a small farm is slowly taking over the field behind the school and we are now using about 3/4 of an acre consisting of over 3400 square feet of organic growing beds, a small fruit orchard, outdoor classroom spaces, wildflower garden, hoop house, chicken coop, post-harvest production area, and shed. 

Cultivate Charlottesville helped support the building of the urban farm at Charlottesville High School beginning in 2013, both financially and with programming support.  Cultivate Charlottesville funded a part time garden educator position to assist in the development of both the physical space as well as the student-centered programming.  CSG’s Food Justice Interns would care for the garden in the summer and take the harvest to share with residents of local public housing communities in Charlottesville through coordination with the Urban Agriculture Collective. Cultivate Charlottesville continues to partner with CHS Urban Farming for special events at the school farm.

The farm is now managed by the Garden to Market and Urban Farming classes which annually walk over 100 students through the process of starting plants from seeds all the way through harvest and distribution. The Urban Farming class is taught through a marketing lens and students learn important business skills in addition to organic gardening and basic carpentry skills. 

The farm is available to all teachers to use with their classes during the school day, either for instructional purposes involving food or environmental topics or simply providing a peaceful place to work outside.