Immersion at Hawthorne Valley Farm this Fall

Jun 18

3 min read

Launching - Fall 2026: Farm-Based Education Immersion at Hawthorne Valley Farm, Ghent, NY

Are you a farm-based educator looking to immerse yourself in an established site’s educational philosophy and practices? To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of FBEN’s founding, we have teamed up with one of FBEN’s founding partners, Hawthorne Valley Farm to offer a unique opportunity to get to know their living, breathing classroom where both children and adults forge a visceral connection with the land that sustains them. This pilot program is offered on an ongoing basis starting in the fall, 2026. Express your interest!

What You’ll Do

Spend 1.5 days at Hawthorne Valley Farm and Learning Center during one of their overnight Visiting Students Programs;
Shadow programming, eat communal meals with students and teachers, explore the farm;
Stay overnight in the Farmhouse, a house used for programming. You will have your own room with a [shared] bathroom. Students will also be occupying the house.
Debrief the experience with staff educators afterwards, ask questions, and share reflections you formed.

When

Immersion opportunities are available throughout the year during designated windows: Sept 28th - Nov 14th and Feb 22nd - May 7th. You can indicate your timing preferences on the Interest Form. Joe Harris, Co-Director of Educational Programming will then connect with you to arrange a specific date.

How

Express Your Interest via this brief form
- The form will ask:
  - Name, date, org/farm, role at org / farm
  - Are you attending with anyone else from your site? (Hawthorne Valley can accommodate a max of 2 People. Each individual needs to fill out their own form)
  - Approximately how many years have you been working in farm-based ed?
  - Appx. date(s) you are available to participate between Sept 28th - Nov 14th and Feb 22nd - May 7th - choose a two day window
  - Please share a sentence or two about why participating in this opportunity makes sense for you right now.
  - Have you participated in professional learning like this before? Please describe what it was and anything that made it particularly successful for you.
  - We will ask you to send a copy of a completed background check before you arrive onsite, to complete a volunteer waiver, and to fill out a “health form”.

Once you complete the form, Joe will reach out to coordinate a date for your Immersion.

This opportunity is offered at no cost, however you can support future programming like this through making a donation to Hawthorne Valley Farm or the Farm-Based Education Network. A donation is not required to participate.

Getting the Most Out of Your Visit

Learn as much as you can about Hawthorne Valley on their website before you go
Read materials and packing lists from Hawthorne Valley that is sent ahead of time
To support your inquiry, make a list of questions. There are no “dumb” questions, and we encourage you to bring as many questions as you can!
When you return home, make time to reflect individually or with peers / colleagues. What did you observe that is relevant to your site? Where did you notice sparks or enthusiasm? What did you discover that you didn't know before? If you’d like an action planning tool to help you digest the experience, we recommend the one linked.

Disclaimer

Expressing interest in this programming is not a guarantee of participation. Hawthorne Valley Farm and the Farm-Based Education Network reserve the right to cancel or reschedule.

11 Comments

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Sep 08

I really like the emphasis on experiencing another farm-based education program firsthand. Sometimes the smallest details of how educators organize activities or interact with learners can provide the most useful ideas for people developing their own programs. Authentic visual documentation could make those insights even easier to share, and Muse Images AI could be useful for creating supporting imagery around these educational experiences.

This sounds like a great example of experiential professional learning. Spending enough time at the farm to observe programs, interact with educators, and reflect on what was learned can lead to much more practical takeaways. I could also see short videos being useful for sharing participant experiences afterward, and MuseVideos could make that kind of storytelling easier to produce.