Our
History
Sprout Creek Farm’s
story actually begins in Connecticut, at an independent school for
girls on the northern edge of the town of Greenwich, Connecticut.
There, in 1982, three high school teachers, concerned about their
students’ narrow horizons and somewhat self-centered dreams for
the future, searched for an experience which would crack the bell
jar under which they were living. Realities like “responsibility,”
“commitment,” “a social conscience” were only
words for some of the students. School curriculums and the relatively
rigid structure of daily school life seemed able to do little to help
students learn these realities. Believing that learning by action
might focus the students’ values and create broader dimensions
of responsibility, the teachers set about developing structured experiences
which they hoped would meet their students’ needs.
A farm seemed
to be the perfect vehicle for the learning. The school campus was
built on the site of a turn of the century farm, and one or two of
the old barns remained. A small army of volunteers rebuilt, renovated,
reconstructed what was needed with donated materials, lots of sweat
equity, and a $4000 grant from the Society of the Sacred Heart. The
first animals were gifts from friends. Six months after the idea was
formulated, the farm was up and running.
The first years
were funded by a huge pumpkin festival whose main event was the sale
of pumpkins grown at the farm. The first programs were summer only,
and for teenagers.
Each three-week
session of the residential program served about 20 girls, ages 14
to 16, from Sacred Heart Network schools throughout the United States.
The girls lived at the farm (in tents for the first three summers),
tended the 2 acre garden, cared for the animals, learned to spin wool,
bake bread, prepare a meal, and make baskets. In addition, they spent
three mornings each week preparing the meal for guests at a North
Bronx soup kitchen. They often brought farm-harvested vegetables to
the soup kitchen to supplement the food supplies.
It was soon clear
that the farm’s summer program of hard work, simple living and
feeding the hungry accomplished the hidden goals of learning responsibility
and commitment. But something else was emerging, too. Students were
beginning to discover their connectedness to the species around them
and they became more able to understand the responsibility we humans
carry for the earth we share.
After a few years,
parents urged the farm to develop programs for younger children, and
in 1986, a summer day program was added to the high school residential
program. An immediate success, the day program focused on the experience
of “the farm” - organic gardening, animal husbandry, and
homesteading crafts. Child-sized vegetable plots, a few goats and
sheep, and a cow that would let four children milk at the same time
were the mainstays of the farm’s program.
In 1987, the farm
administrators were approached by the estate of Elise Kinkead, a longtime
Poughkeepsie, NY resident, and offered the possibility of receiving
the gift of Miss Kinkead’s Woodford Farm, in the town of LaGrange.
After a period of negotiation, the property was subsequently given
to the Society of the Sacred Heart, to be operated as Sprout Creek
Farm. The gift included the land and existing buildings, and provided
for a conservation easement which protects most of the property from
development.
The farm program
in Greenwich closed in 1990. After a period of renovation, Sprout
Creek became operational in September of that year and began offering
school programs to local and area schools.
In the years since
the farm moved from Greenwich, Sprout Creek has received wonderful
support from many people and organizations, most remarkably from the
Beinecke Trust. The Trust has funded the building of two new barns,
as well as the purchase of machinery and equipment. The Trust continues
to offer us encouragement and financial support.
The enthusiastic
response to Sprout Creek’s offerings was an unanticipated surprise.
By 1992, every available slot on the program calendar was filled with
school classes, Brownie and Girl Scout troops, and other groups. Ongoing
renovations, (installing heat, for example,) made it possible to develop
more comprehensive programs which could better interface with school
curriculums.
In 1993, at the
suggestion of Linda Roy, principal of Noxon Road Elementary School,
Sprout Creek formed a partnership with Noxon, a connection that grows
stronger every year. Children at Noxon Road follow a five year program
that brings them to Sprout Creek several times each year.
The years since
1990 tell the story of remarkable growth. Some 5,000 children visit
Sprout Creek during each school year. The calendar is reserved a full
year in advance. We feel certain that we could double our service
had we the space and the personnel.
Our understanding
of our mission has developed and strengthened as well in the years
since 1990. Making the experience of farming available to children
of all ages has become a stronger focus in our programming. Recognizing
that children are disconnected from their agricultural heritage, even
from the sources of their food, we have placed more emphasis on “doing”
the farming with children. We have found that this achieves the triple
objective of teaching the basic connectedness of all the earth’s
species, learning the value of real work, and becoming responsible
for the future of our planet. We believe that children will protect
each other and our Earth if they are helped to appreciate - even love
- it. We see this experience happen for children each day at Sprout
Creek.
