Setting the Table with Los Niños

by Small Places Staff | Apr 16, 2018 | News

With the help of a grant, the Los Niños Early Childhood Montessori Program has been purchasing produce from Finca to ensure their students have quality fresh fruits and vegetables in their school meals. As part of this health initiative by the school, the students and parents recently had a chance to come visit us on the farm for a morning for a Setting the Table field trip.

This field trip provides a unique chance to get closely acquainted with food from different perspectives; students join the farmers to harvest fresh ingredients from our fields which they clean, chop, and prepare into lunch for everyone to share together. The field trip also goes beyond cooking and emphasizes other important aspects of health such as building social connections and spending time outside being active.

A special thank you Courtney Robins, Erin Thole, and the team of volunteers that helped to make this unique learning experience a reality for these kids and families in the East End.

In September 2025, we started building out our greenhouse at Finca Tres Robles. In just a few short months, we have been able to grow multiple vegetable varieties and transplant them successfully into the fields, where they have grown and been harvested throughout the fall and winter months!

How a greenhouse works

At its simplest, a greenhouse captures sunlight and holds warmth, creating a stable environment for plants to grow.

Inside, we manage temperature, airflow, water, and light to give seedlings exactly what they need at each stage.

greenhouses matter for small, high-impact farms

Greenhouses give small farms a head start. They allow us to grow more food in limited space by protecting young plants from cold snaps, heavy rains, and unpredictable weather.

It’s a balance of structure and attentiveness. Less about forcing growth, more about creating the right conditions for it to happen naturally.

How greenhouses help us plan and grow more effectively

The greenhouse is where planning becomes tangible. By starting plants early and in controlled conditions, we can make thoughtful decisions about timing, spacing, and crop succession long before seedlings reach the field. This early preparation helps us use our resources wisely and respond with flexibility as the season unfolds.

For a high-impact farm, this protection means resilience. We can extend our growing season, reduce losses, and steward our land more carefully while still feeding our community.