Farm-Based Learning

Hawthorne Valley Farm was envisioned as a place where children could experience a working farm and, through active participation, learn practical skills, develop social relationships, and gain a deeper sense of self and relationship to nature. Since 1972, we have hosted more than 20,000 children, and the tradition continues. 

Connecting to Nature

Through our on-farm learning programs, we strive to foster connections to the land that sustains us all. The farm is a place for both children and adults to rediscover the earth as the ground of all life. Through experiences on the farm, visitors and leaders alike stretch boundaries and realize new inner capacities. 

Building Bridges

Connecting to one another is also an important part of the mission. The learning programs nurture healthy social relationships among participants through shared work and play. We place particular emphasis on building bridges between urban and rural. 

Cultivating Future Leaders

The Visiting Students Program Internships, Farm & Arts Internships, and Farm & Arts Teen Leadership Program invite young adults to experience the rewards of farm-based learning and mentorship. While working alongside program staff, the Interns and Teen Leaders gain valuable skills, develop individually, and have an opportunity to both share with and learn from others. 

Supporting the Next Generation of Farmers

Working on the land requires the development of special skills and capacities that include a strong, heartfelt relationship to the natural world. As our more instinctive and traditional connections to our soils, plants, and animals fade away and industrial agricultural methods impact our environment, we are given an opportunity and a challenge: can we rediscover a more intimate, conscious and respectful relationship to planet Earth and all her creatures? Can our farming and gardening methods give back as well as take from Nature? Can we organize our work such that the economics of our enterprises sustain us while also broadening our awareness of the whole?

A vocation is more than a job. It implies an occupation as being particularly worthy and requiring great dedication. We believe farming to be such a vocation and seek to elevate the status of "farmer" and support the next generation of farmers. We hope the vocational training offerings at Hawthorne Valley Farm are a beginning towards restoring agriculture as a foundational impulse for our own health, for the well being of our planet, and for the strength and vitality of our communities.

Click here for a complete list of farm-based education Staff.

Staff Highlight