Hawthorne Valley Farm
Join us in the Hudson Valley region of New York for a week of farming, learning and building community, with a focus on land access and food justice. This week-long farm experience is part of the Climate Farm School learning program.
About the farm
The property
Hawthorne Valley Farm is a non-profit farm with a variety of educational and farming activities onsite. The farm hosts a K-12 Waldorf school onsite, as well as farmer training programs, a farm store, art center, and a farmscape ecology program. The farm offers a dairy and meat products, and is a great example of a small-scale organic dairy, an increasingly rare farming business threatened by farm consolidation and industrialized farming.
The Hudson Valley course is a collaboration of host farms coming together to offer an enriching and diversified farm learning experience. The course features visits to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Stone House Grains, and Arthur’s Point Farm.
- Ghent, New York (USA)
- Part of Terra.do's Climate Farm School
- farm.hawthornevalley.org
Farm team
Participants will learn from Spencer Fenniman, Farming Director, as well as various members of the vegetable, dairy, and farmscape ecology teams. Spencer brings deep knowledge of organic and biodynamic farming practices, and will share a holistic view of the operations taking places on the land as well as the land’s history dating back to pre-colonial times.
Glimpses from the farm
Hands-on activities
Prepare to get your hands dirty with a wide range of activities offered at the farm.
Farming and forestry
- Vegetable cultivation and harvesting
- Moving animals from pasture to milking barn and milking demo; morning and afternoon milking chores
- Soil carbon workshop and on-farm soil analysis with Laura Lengnick from Glynwood Center
- Farmland ecology walking tour and farm conservation work with Conrad and Claudia (Farmscape Ecology team)
- Agroforestry work, native tree planting, and exploration of biochar production, co-composting and research applications at Arthur's Point Farm
- Large scale organic grain production tour at Stone House Grains
Food and cooking
- Local sourcing from farm stores and farm-led menu planning
- Local grain milling and baking
- Group meal preparation and basic food preservation lessons with resident chef
- Special meal at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture following farm tour
Pricing and expected commitment
US $2400 – $3500
*Pricing varies based on lodging. For this course, the range is $2400-3500. Exact details are provided in the application form and follow up communication to applicants.
Cohort starting Jul 15, 2024
Cohort starting Sep 2, 2024
Hear from Climate Farm School fellows
Jamilla Jones
"This is the way to do it for anyone who wants to learn about Farming and Climate because this isn't a boutique experience. Instead, the time spent with farmers shows the real side of farming and how weather and climate affect the farms and farmers. In addition, Ryan and Laney were excellent facilitators who balanced educating the group with listening and learning."
Jake Gong
"The Climate Farm School was an amazing, life-changing experience! Based on what I learned, I'm building new relationships with my local farmers, food systems, and policy. Also, my fellow classmates were diverse and an incredible set of voices that I loved talking with. We became very close."
Evan Harris
"If you have never purchased a big ticket course before, then you are in the exact same boat that I was in before attending this course. I am only two days out of the course, and the context that I have been able to spin up from the massive value I derived out of the on site week in the Hudson Valley has already proven its worth. I cannot wait to see the changes that I am able to create in sustainable agriculture as a result of this course."
Elena Westbrook
"The course was perfectly designed with initial content and information leading up to the immersive farm stay. I felt informed and inspired while meeting with a diversity of farmers with an array of considerations in regenerative agriculture. I left the farm week feeling inspired and energized. The group in the Hudson Valley was very diverse from different cultural and professional backgrounds. Incredible experience all around!!"
