Boosters building farm at Elsie Allen High School

Ag boosters are in the midst of a barn-raising effort at Santa Rosa’s Elsie Allen High that will make it easier for students to raise hogs and other animals.

The barn is the first addition in a little half-acre student “farm” under construction in the middle of campus, wedged between the track and basketball courts.

“This will be fabulous for the kids because they can come and take care of their animals before class and then they can come and take care of them after school. It’s an easy location,” Ag Boosters President Ted Isaacs said on Sunday. An excavating and engineering contractor who is lending his expertise to the project, he remains a strong ag supporter almost two decades after his youngest child went through the program.

Longtime ag teacher Annette O’Kelley said a man who owns property near the school for many years allowed students to raise their animals on his land. But the property was recently sold, forcing the school to find a new place nearby for a farm. It finally occurred to everyone that they could carve out a spot right on campus.

“Having it in close proximity is important,” said O’Kelley, ?“because a lot of the students don’t have transportation. They ride their bikes or they walk. To get here, they have to find rides.”

Volunteers have poured part of the concrete foundation and inserted poles in preparation for installing concrete walls and the steel truss roof next weekend.

Adding some sweat equity to the project on Sunday was senior Andres Tlahvitzo, the president of Elsie Allen’s chapter of the Future Farmers of America. He has raised six Duroc hogs in the past three years. Neither of his parents works in agriculture. but Tlahvitzo plans to study ag at Santa Rosa Junior College next year.

“The reason I raise hogs is I wanted to do something different,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to raise an animal other than dogs and cats. I live in an apartment.”

The Bellevue Avenue School located not far from the Corby Avenue Auto Mall, has had a vibrant ag program since it opened in 1994. In the past ?20 years, it has grown from one to three teachers and now has 300 students and boasts the most up-to-date tech facilities on campus, O’Kelley said.

Students can learn ag mechanics and biology as well as vet science, earth science and floriculture. Next year, the school plans to add a class in farm-to-table cooking.

Students have long had their own greenhouse, where they learn propagation and plant care from members of the Santa Rosa Men’s Garden Club. The school consistently wins first prize for its Junior Garden at the Sonoma County fair each summer. But the mini-farm will bring animal science right to campus.

Last year, the boosters contributed $11,000 in materials to build a fence around the farm, saving $9,000 in construction costs by doing the labor themselves, Isaacs said.

They’ve contributed another $17,000 so far this year for materials to build the barn, which will be 46 by 30 feet with concrete walls to protect the young pigs from the elements, 18 stalls, each 5 feet wide, and a waste storage system.

Future plans for the farm include a demonstration show ring and a second barn to house larger livestock.

The boosters get most of their money from an annual August fundraiser at the Kunde Estate Winery in Kenwood.

“On a good year, the gross is about $45,000,” said O’Kelley, who is retiring at the end of the school year after 34 years teaching in Santa Rosa schools.

Ben Terry, a retired Santa Rosa High math teacher and Elsie Allen ag booster, who provides many of the hogs raised by Elsie Allen students, said kids gain a lot of skills by raising animals.

“They learn responsibility and how to manage their time and money,” he said. “And maybe they’ll have some success and be able to parlay that into their adult lives.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204. On Twitter @MegMcConahey.