"During the presentation, I found myself feeling most fortunate that I grew up on a farm, surrounded by nature, and engaged with the earth through myriad chores and responsibilities. The children of today can benefit tremendously from immersion in farm life, through building up their will forces and their moral forces."  --Farmer John Peterson, Angelic Organics

Farm- and garden-based educators made a strong showing at the 2014 North American Biodynamic Conference, “Farming for Health.” Five educators shared their insights and experience at a well-attended workshop, “Farm-Based Education Inspired By Anthroposophy,” and a Saturday afternoon learning community meetup allowed for peer-to-peer exploration of burning questions, and connections to Waldorf education and school gardens. For those who were unable to attend the conference, a few experienced educators and long-time members of FBEIBA share these reflections:

Bente Goldstein, a Waldorf and Farm-Based Educator, summarized the experience:

At the BD conference in Louisville KY, we gathered for a plenum of what is going on with Farm Based Education Inspired By Anthroposophy. Dana Burns introduced the session with emphasizing the question of why we are trying to do all this hard work with children.

I chimed in with strong statements about how the will needs resistance in order to become strong. Nicky Robb described the programs that she has built up over the years at Heartsbrook Waldorf School in Massachusetts including the economic reality. Lastly  Hawthorne Valley’s long-time farm educator, Matt Davis, talked about what gives children the joy and wish to do this work.

There was lively discussion after these small presentations with strong sentiments of the necessity for kids to get their hands into the reality of dirt and animal husbandry.

Later the next day there was another time where all interested in Farm Education could come and connect with each other, providing many people with the opportunity to get to know about each other's endeavors in the brief time available.

Lori Barian, Director of Administration and Adult Enrichment with the Great Lakes Waldorf Institute wrote:

Attending the Farm Based Educators panel presentation at the BD Conference in Kentucky, I was impressed with how the five presenters were each bringing such different content, but that they thoroughly complemented each other and that each was obviously an expert in the field.

This gave me a deep sense of how this expertise has been growing in the farm-based education movement within our biodynamic and Waldorf education movements. A maturing and flourishing is happening so that the many young people who attended and are taking up the work in their own communities have elders to learn from.

In the FBEIBA interest group session, the young people impressed me most. Their enthusiasm and willingness to create opportunities for children to learn from real life where there is no program yet in place, where they are forming it and framing it as they go, demonstrated to how strong the call is for such educational programming. The need for it is only growing. The need for educators with this expertise is growing, too.

That is why, as I wear a hat on behalf of Great Lakes Waldorf Institute, I am facilitating our teacher education center's exploration of establishing a Practical Arts certificate program for the individuals who want to work with children to teach them handwork, woodworking, farming and gardening, nature and outdoor survival skills, sustainable living skills and crafts  or other such applied and practical arts.

Farmer John Peterson of Angelic Organics also shared his reflections with us:

The presentation by Farm Based Educators Inspired by Anthroposophy at the  2014 Biodynamic Conference in Louisville was most illuminating and inspiring. It helped me to clearly see how we can lay the groundwork for the future of humanity and of the earth by fostering  the child’s connection to a farm. Through the farm-based activities of observation and participation, educators help to build the child's will forces and to develop a sense of responsibility towards others and towards our planet.

Finally, Dana Burns, coordinator of FBEIBA and co-founder of A Week on the Farm, wrote:

Farm and garden-based education has arrived. The passion, enthusiasm and strong attendance at the conference workshop last fall was wonderful to see and confirmed the strength of this emerging trend. I now find the phrase “a garden in every school” and others like it, strewn across the internet with ever increasing frequency. This concept has finally gone mainstream!

As demonstrated by the 2014 conference FBEIBA panel, anthroposophy including biodynamics and Waldorf education has been well ahead of the curve in seeing the need for students to be educated on and in farms and gardens. As well as seeing the obvious, inherent benefit of educating people about something of such great human significance as food, the study of anthroposophy brings added enlightenment and perspective on how participating with nature's elements in a process integral to our very existence is of great pedagogical benefit to human development.

Let us all work together, each in our own ways, to continue the momentum and both expand and deepen the movement of farm-based education inspired by anthroposophy towards the betterment of all life on earth!

If you have any thoughts or suggestions from the 2014 conference please feel free to share them on the new FBEIBA online discussion group (coming soon). We hope the discussion group will provide a venue to share ideas and resources, ask questions, and connect with other educators working to move the farm-based education movement forward. To access more information about the conference, including audio recordings and workshop materials, visit the 2014 Biodynamic Conference page.