Massachusetts Network of Farm-Based Educators

Information

This is a group to develop and publicize a schedule of gatherings of the Massachusetts Network of Farm-Based Educators and a space to share information and ask questions.

Members: 18
Latest Activity: Feb 3

Schedule & Background

The first 2010 gathering of the Massachusetts Network of Farm-Based Educators was held on a snowy January day in the historic house that is home to the FBEA in the Minute Man National Historical Park. Fifteen farm-based educators from Weston, Topsfield, Middleborough, Concord, Sheffield, Newton, Lincoln, Boston, and Waltham met over coffee, tea and an impressive selection of cakes, cookies, salads and farm-made Coppa di Testa to plan the 2010 gatherings and topics. List of brainstormed topics

Past events...

February 16th, 1:30-3:30

Location: Waltham Fields Community Farm, Waltham, MA

Hosted by: Jericho Bicknell, Education and Outreach Coordinator

What did we talk about? While it was another snowy day and thus a small group, the 2nd Network gathering of 2010 was very productive. Those who attended included representatives from Newton Community Farm, The Federation of Farmers Markets, the Framingham High School school farm project and the Mary Cummings Park educational farm project. Jericho explained Waltham Fields Community Farm's farm to school relationship. The group discussed programming ideas for different age groups and expressed interest in learning more about what others charge for various types of programming.

Here are the upcoming dates, locations, and topics:

March 30th, 1:00-3:00 pm

Location: 231 Liberty St, Concord, MA - the FBEA Headquarters

Hosted by: Wayne Castonguay from the Appleton Farms Center for Agriculture and the Environment, a project of the Trustees of Reservations and Kris Scopinich from Drumlin Farm

Topic: Costs for Programming, Fundraising and Operating Budgets

April 13th, 9-12 am

Location: Land's Sake, Weston, MA

Hosted by: Doug Cook, Casey Townsend of Land's Sake's Education Department

Topic: Working with high school students

April 28th, 1-2 pm

Location: Friends of Holly Hill Farm, Cohasset, MA

Hosted by: Jonny Belber, Education Director

Topic: Farm visit with local 1st and 2nd graders / working with this age group

May 25th 10-1pm

Location: Soule Homestead Education Center, Middleboro, MA

Hosted by: Frank Albani, Director

Topic: Working together to improve food access, children's programming, and more!

May/June TBD

Location: Codman Community Farm, Lincoln, MA

Hosted by: Jen James, Director

Topic: Event Planning for farm-based educators

June TBD

Location: Natick Community Farm, Natick, MA

Hosted by: Ursula King

Topic: TBD

July 6th, time TBD

Location: The Farm School, Athol, MA

Hosted by: Patrick Connors, Director

Topic: Working with elementary school students on the farm

August/September, TBD

Location: Weir River Farm, Hingham, MA

Hosted by: Meghan Connolly, Education and Interpretation Coordinator

Topic: Farm camp set-up, programming, and maintenance

If you are interested in hosting an event or have any other questions or comments, please contact Phoebe: phoebe@farmbasededucation.org, 978-318-7872

History of the Massachusetts Network of Farm-Based Educators

In the fall of 2008, 15 farm-based educators (photo above) engaged in a facilitated discussion in Concord to explore the possibilities of a formalized network. From that meeting, led by Mark Walter, a teacher at Boston Teacher's Union School, with support from Verena Wieloch, Grey Lee, and host site volunteers, the FBEA facilitated five professional development monthly gatherings of the Massachusetts Network of Farm-Based Educators at various sites including: Waltham Fields Community Farm, Lands Sake Farm in Weston, Appleton Farms in Ipswich, Holly Hill Farm in Cohasset, Weir River Farm in Hingham, and The Farm School in Athol. Topics discussed included; connecting farm-based education to local schools’ curricula, working with land trusts in targeted areas to preserve land, and identifying alternative resources for funding and volunteers. The interest in this group has grown and membership has expanded to include educators in the field of nutrition and climate change.

Materials & Discussions

People Value your work! Please help them out!

Started by Phoebe K. Flemming, RD Feb 3.

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Massachusetts Network of Farm-Based Educators to add comments!

Comment by Phoebe K. Flemming, RD on September 16, 2009 at 10:14pm: http://grantsalert.com/grants.cfm?id=4&gid=33106
Check out this link and those below for ideas about how to fund your educational garden programs

Comment by Rebecca Gilbert on May 1, 2009 at 11:28am: I'm not sure if this is the right spot to say this, but our women farmer's group is very interested in getting our interns together a-la CRAFT, although on a smaller scale to begin with. We are also working on a gleaning program for the fall.

Comment by Jen James on May 1, 2009 at 11:11am: I spoke with our farmers here at The Food Project and they're excited about seeing other FBE places in action. It will be good for us to spend more time on this aspect of our work--learning more about what we can do with our teenagers.