As the new year begins, new groups of Burr & Burton Academy students file off the bus and into the teaching greenhouse at Hildene Farm where they marvel: plants are growing! It’s January in Vermont and we are growing vegetables. The students get to work: they start seeds for microgreens, water kale and spinach in the high tunnel, check soil temperatures, and inspect leaves for signs of aphids. The more they work, the more they wonder: how do seeds “know” when to start growing? Why does water soak into some sections of soil and pool in others? Why can we grow kale in the winter but not tomatoes? What are we going to do with all these winter greens? The students will spend the next five months exploring, experimenting, and trying things out. They will test water percolation and seed germination. They will start growing tomatoes for the summer season. They will take their questions outside to the gardens, the pastures, and the compost.

Give young people the opportunity to wonder and the tools to understand. Ten years ago, Hildene and Burr & Burton Academy (BBA) formed a close partnership to do just that — educate high school students on a working farm. Teachers, farmers, and organizational leaders came together to ask: What matters most about learning? About farming? About getting young people out on the land? We have been closely aligned for a decade of teaching and learning in pursuit of those answers.

Today, that partnership is the Farm and Food Studies program which brings BBA students to Hildene Farm for five classes, internships, field trips, service experiences, and summer employment. Students work and learn in a dedicated classroom and in the greenhouse, the barns, the gardens, and on the trails. Students participate in managing the land by tending soil, planting seeds, harvesting food, and collecting data. They are empowered to make decisions using sustainable principles, regenerative practices, guidance from BBA teachers, and the deep knowledge of Hildene Farm staff.

Here is some of what Hildene and BBA hope to accomplish through the Farm and Food Studies partnership, along with descriptions of what it looks like to students:

Provide students with opportunities to approach the natural world with curiosity and wonder.

• Art of Nature students got to know the Hildene Farm landscape as both subject and supplies by making their own charcoal, ink, paper, dyes, and quills from materials grown and foraged around the farm. Prayer flags, dyed with plants from the garden, carried messages of hope and peace written in ink foraged from wild forest fruits, with quills made from Hildene duck feathers.

Teach students the skills to care for land for human use, healthy natural systems, and future generations.

• Sustainable Agriculture students plan and plant the BBA garden in the spring. After learning about soil composition and ecology, crop rotation, cover cropping, and nutrients, each student will decide where to plant a single crop and how to prepare the soil. They undertake the challenge of working to maximize food production while safeguarding the health and fertility of the soil for future seasons.

Empower students to use their skills to make positive change in the community.

• Ethnobotany students reflect on Indigenous foodways and knowledge systems through participation in the Abenaki Land Link project. The students learn about seed sovereignty and grow traditional three-sisters crops – corn, beans, and squash. After harvesting and drying the crops, students return them to the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation for community food access and cultural programs.

Encourage students to seek joy and connection through the land.

• Farm to Plate Students culminate a season of harvesting vegetables and cooking farm-fresh food with an amazing final meal. They reflect in joyful hindsight on the soil under their fingernails from pulling potatoes, leeks, and carrots from the ground, the persistent fragrance of basil and dill picked by hand, and the group bonding that comes from crying together over diced onions. The students are proud to feed each other.

Written by Nora Hefner, Farm & Food Studies Coordinator at Burr & Burton Academy

To see photos, click here to visit their Instagram.