Growing with education in mind: 6 tips to creating an education based farm

More than ever we are seeing farms and nonprofit organizations use land and food as connecting, teaching, and gathering points. As part of this farm-based education trend, there is a growing need for farmers and gardeners who can manage with an educator’s perspective. While production and general operations remain important, new goals require shifts to your way of doing things.

Why do we farm?

The question is more than existential…you need to be very clear what you are trying to accomplish. Are you setting up a farm that is primarily a learning space, or are you making a living from your farm and adding in some educational or community activities? The choice will affect what markets you grow for, how you create income, who you hire or partner with, and even how you physically organize the space. If you are joining an existing farm or farm-based organization, make sure you (and they) are clear on the same question. 

      Common Farm-based Education Goals:

• Employment training
• Youth development, re-engagement, and empowerment;
• Teaching technical agriculture and urban gardening skills;
• Re-connecting people to nature;
• Environmental and food system literacy and stewardship;
• Sustainable food systems research and training;
• Promoting local foods and local restaurants; or
• Building healthier eating habits and combating growing diet and exercise related health epidemics

Youth are trained to set up and manage the on-site market stand.
Printed with permission from GRuB.

Choose production that matches your goals

It’s natural to think about farmers markets, CSAs, and restaurant accounts, but take a hard look at your organization or program goals and think creatively. You don’t want to commit yourself to production and markets that don’t serve your purpose…farming and teaching are enough work! As you consider your markets, ask yourself these questions:

• What activities will provide your participants with the strongest experiences? What will be natural places for them to learn? Where can they become a part of your normal operations?

• What are limitations to their program that will influence your potential markets and operations?

• Does their schedule coincide with harvest, markets, and other farm activities? How can you build learning experiences to match production and market needs (or visa versa)?

• How much will you need to run operations separate from the program? Are all areas of the farm educational, or will some run as a normal farm operation?

Release some control

…or rather, invite people into the farm. Part of this shift is out of sheer necessity. Adding educational elements requires extra time and planning. Even if you are not directly teaching, you will need to collaborate with the educators to integrate their lessons into the day-to-day operations of the farm. You’ll also likely need to follow up on unfinished projects that didn’t quite fit into the learning experience. There are going to be a lot of projects that you would have done differently as a solo farmer; decide where it matters and where it can be good enough.

Part of inviting people in requires user-friendly systems that make pathways and beds obvious.

Set aside extra time to create the learning experience

When you add education, especially experiential education, you need to recognize that the process of meeting your goals is at least as important as the goal itself. You can’t just tackle a project on your list, but rather must take the time to think through how you will engage people of varying skills and abilities into the experience.

Here’s a simple example:

Sunflowers are an important crop for the farm, and you need to transplant within a small weather window. You and the lead teacher (or just as commonly, you serve both roles) decided that your summer camp middle school-age kids will transplant the sunflowers as part of their larger lesson on plant life cycles and the next stage to their greenhouse and propagation lessons.

You’ll have handled any field preparation beforehand, including soil preparation, making obvious pathways, and marking the planting rows. You gather the correct tools, and think through the flow of work so ten kids can access the field without damaging plants or soil. You ensure the campers (or the teacher who will lead the lesson) understand how to transplant before they begin, taking time to create an interactive training so the sunflowers are planted correctly and will thrive. Afterward, the campers will water in the transplants, wash and return the tools, and clean up any other project messes…unless they run out of time. You are usually left with some level of clean up, some quality checks on the plants, perhaps a little damage repair to surrounding crops, and other more complicated bits like drip irrigation set up. You also grin-and-bear occasional crooked rows and slightly damaged plants because it’s all part of the learning experience.

Visiting classes help plant salad mix for future food bank harvests.
Printed with permission from GRuB.

Create systems that build leadership

We put so much of our creativity, time, and bodies into running a farm, it’s not easy to let go. However, if you develop user-friendly planting schedules, calendars, maps, signs, irrigation schedules, and other core farm systems, you’ll achieve three important things:

1. Co-workers can build their lesson plans based on your farm needs without requiring you to handle every detail. In fact, the accessibility of your systems opens up new learning possibilities.
2. An accessible system means you can delegate projects while offering people supported learning experiences. Interns, apprentices, even students/participants can learn the farm systems and slowly take on more responsibility; and
3. Your systems add organizational and farm sustainability. Whether you just need solidly-trained crew to hold the farm operations while you take a vacation, or you are moving on to different pastures, the accessible planning and operation systems will keep things running through the transition. 

Keep it meaningful

The most impactful programs engage people in meaningful work. Take time to explain the context of their activities. Even weeding is important when it means your crops will thrive and there will be more healthy food to share with the community. If your educational programming isn’t directly tied to farm operations, consider how participants can connect to something larger. 

Excited but overwhelmed? Root Forward can walk you through the planning process so you can create a high-impact and fun program.