Farm

Summerfield is one of the few Waldorf schools worldwide to have a working farm on the campus. The farm produces a seasonal bounty of fruits, vegetables and flowers. At the farm, children have the opportunity to learn many basic skills that are rapidly becoming lost in today's industrialized society. By tending soil, turning the compost, planting perennial gardens, harvesting vegetables for soup, caring for farm animals, and pruning and grafting, each child gains a deeper awareness of the natural world.

The younger children "play" on the farm, sowing and harvesting and tending the animals. The third grade curriculum, especially, which concentrates on basic practical aspects of food and shelter, has the children spend a greater amount of time on the farm, where they learn about barnyard structures and livestock practices, as well as actively participating in the life-cycle of one of the staples of our modern diet, wheat, in its metamorphosis from seed to plant to grain to bread. In the higher grades students practice plant propagation, study and cultivate healing plants, and learn about nutrition through cooking, drying and processing food.

The school is deeply committed to preserving and maintaining the farm and the open space. That commitment to the land was affirmed in 1983 with a legally binding Land Trust requiring the school to protect and nurture the land and the wild life refuge in perpetuity.


"The understanding that Mother Nature is now ailing and that humanity must take the responsibility to nurture our mother back to health is inherent in the biodynamic approach. It is this responsibility to the earth and this healing, holistic approach that can bring to education what is most especially needed in our age."
Perry Hart, Land Steward and SWSF Farmer