Times Union: Saratoga Springs Community Farm Expands Into After-School Programming
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A farm in the middle of the city is branching into after-school programming this fall, to connect children with the outdoors. Pitney Meadows Community Farm, which is across from Saratoga Springs High School, is starting “Nurtured in Nature” this fall for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
“I really wanted them to get on the land, to actively see our farming happen,” said Executive Director Brooke McConnell. “There’s something that happens here when you come here purposefully to interact with the land.”
Program instructors will teach nature-based science lessons, mindfulness lessons and lead exploration. The program runs for the next nine months, including the winter.
They started small — with just two instructors — because they weren’t sure if it would be popular. The first eight-week session almost immediately sold out.
Spaces for the second session — through the winter and spring — have proved less popular so far.
Instructor Leah Ferrone said she hopes students come to enjoy the “miracle of snow” and other winter experiences.
“Living in upstate New York, where we have these beautiful, rich four seasons … even if it’s cold outside, if you’re properly prepared, you could come out and have such an incredible experience,” she said. “The farm is a perfect landscape for that.”
In the fall, students will observe how vegetation and animals are preparing for the winter. When it snows, they’ll look for animal tracks and listen for the sounds of nature. In the spring, they’ll celebrate “the awakening,” as the program terms it.
“Snow can be seen as an inconvenience for some, butwe have whole lessons on the miracle of snow,” she added.