Permaculture Field Trips!
Bring your group to visit our
Regenerative Systems for Forests, Gardens, Orchards & Ponds
Previous Field Trip examples...
In spring, Allendale Columbia school brought 27 students for a custom field trip to see and learn about phase one of our Water Stewards demonstration site and systems. They were fascinated and fully engaged, even in the rain!
In summer, we customized 1/2 day weekly programming for Camp Whitman's youth group field trips to the farm. The campers were captivated by the hands-on exploration and crafting during the sessions: "Nature Adventures " and "Our Watershed Connection". Fun times during the rain and heat!
In fall, we hosted the Rochester Area Homeschool Nature Explorer's Group of 24 children, ages 3-11, and 9 adults. The students had fun with a variety of educational activities in the garden, orchard and food forest as we explored: "What is Nature Teaching Us? We enjoyed being outdoors with so many happy, smiling young folks who didn't want to leave! They excitedly took home their harvest of apples, pears and zucchini, nature-inspired learning and forest plant mud art prints.
Also in fall, we customized an outdoor farm and orchard learning experience for Bloomfield School's field trip, grades 6-9. The 14 eco-students picked and tasted herbs and fruits and learned how to use them; examined and gathered tree, herb, flower and food seeds, learned how to plant them and took their seeds home to dry for next spring's planting; learned earth-working on contour, carved a beautiful curving raised garden with its water catchment and used wood chips for soil building and micro-organism health. These excited and energetic students were filled full of new experiences and knowledge that they can use for a lifetime and anywhere in the world.
Let’s Plan an Exciting Program
for Your Group!
What are your
topic, age and schedule needs?
Contact Us
or
585-394-7610
Facilities
Join us at our
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Indoor Meeting Spaces
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Outdoor Demonstrations Sites
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Outdoor Laboratories of Fields, Ponds, Gardens, Orchard, Marsh, Creeks, Waterfall, Forest
all at
Shimmering Light Farm
Naples, NY
Interactive Experiences and
Customized Nature Programs
Just for Your Group, youth and adults alike!
We weave in knowledge, demonstrations and crafting of natural, sustainable practices that generate, store and use life-giving water. Our interactive curriculum uses practices and principles in conservation, ecology, permaculture and regenerative design that have been successfully used around the world.
Customize Your Topic
Let us know what topics your group may be interested in exploring. Content, methods and activities are customized for all ages.
Some potential highlights might be:
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What is Nature Teaching Us?
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Establishing Your Food Forest
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My Watershed
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Nature Adventures
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Patterns in Nature
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Fields to Forests
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Nature-Inspired Gardens
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Nature-Inspired Orchards
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Nature-Inspired Ponds
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Nature-Inspired Regenerative Systems
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Eco-System & Me
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Plants & Processes for Food & Wellness
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Natural Resources, Uses & Cycles
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My Longitude/Latitude Neighbors
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Reading the Landscape
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Nature-Inspired Land Use
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Permaculture at Home
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Nature-Inspired Farming
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And many more!
Back Story
When our farm well ran dry in the drought of 2016, we could see the wide-spread implications and the global need to teach young people and the community to work with water, nature and landscapes in more regenerative ways. We received a 3-year nature and art grant for a community youth education program called Water Stewards.
From 2017-2019, we worked with 150 youth on our Water Stewards project, developing a regenerative water system at our farm which can also be a model and demonstration site for other local farms.
In July, 2018, we experienced extreme heat and no rain for 4 consecutive weeks and in 2020 we again experienced drought conditions. We can happily report that our nature-inspired water and garden systems (raised bed swales on contour) yielded robust crops. We have not needed to water the crops, not even during the periods of no rain and extreme heat.
Those participating were excited to learn and see immediate results. Our site models have been inspirational as everyone has shared stories of how they applied lessons in their own farms, yards and gardens.
Greatest gratitude to the Guido and Ellen Palma Foundation and all of our consultants and amazing educators for making this such a successful project!
Now that the Palma Grant funded project is complete, our Environmental Access Fund will provide participation for anyone who is experiencing financial hardship OR those who are Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx or have been otherwise racialized.