Pine River-Backus Area Learning Center

We hope to add season extension and growing capacity to the Pine River-Backus (PRB) Community Garden in order to offer greater hands-on learning for students participating in the Food-Youth-Business (FYB) course while generating food that they may choose how to utilize (prepare and eat, sell, give to school kitchen, etc).
FYB is a collaborative program between a local nonprofit, Happy Dancing Turtle, and the Pine River- Backus Schools with the goals of educating youth about healthy, fresh food and it’s growing process, and the job and business opportunities in food systems. We do this through classroom education, field trips, minimal hands-on, and mentoring/apprenticeship. A high tunnel hoop house would allow students to grow food during the school year when outdoor production opportunities in north-central Minnesota are limited. The addition of a hoop house will allow for more hands-on experience which is important for students to replicate the growing process on their own.