Our Program for Visiting Schools is the centerpiece of The Farm School. Each school year, over 1,500 children come to help us care for our farm during 3-day visits. The students come with their classes, in groups of up to 40 children at once. While on the farm, students find the magic and value that comes from being with the land, working together and experiencing first hand what it means to be stewards of the earth within their communities. The Role The Forestry Farmer Teacher works in partnership with the Forestry/Draft Animal Teamster/ Manager. The Forestry Farmer Teacher leads the youth through every aspect of trail maintenance and creation, wood splitting, maple sugaring, mushroom cultivation, reading the forest, youth hikes, felling, bucking and the milling lumber. This role also offers Farmer Teachers the ability to learn and engage in Draft Animal operations to bring trees out of the forest to the mill and to assist in food crop cultivation.
The role of each Farmer Teacher is to have the foresight and ability to organize your assigned work area in ways that are accessible for youth and allow youth to equally engage, side by side with you, in the core elements of the work area listed above. This role is well suited for those that can engage youth in the moment at hand, have a sense of playfulness, can balance having a clear direction while maintaining flexibility on how to get there, can be responsible, clear and collaborative rather than authoritative, possess a good sense of boundaries, enjoys building relationships and can lead just enough to open up a youths capabilities, sense value and place on the farm.