BUCKLAND — With a goal of expanding its programming and teaching youths year-round, rather than just in warmer months, Red Gate Farm Educational Center is constructing new dormitories, a dining hall, and workshop and performance spaces.
Jake Krain, the center’s assistant director, emphasized Red Gate Farm’s commitment to “inspiring kindness and empathy in young people” by connecting them with nature, animals and each other.
“We have kids who come from the city and ask if they can walk on the grass,” said Garden Program Manager Sydney Treuer added. “It’s mind-blowing the experiences some of the kids are having relative to a normal day for them at home.”
The cold weather has always been a limiting factor of the farm’s programming, which currently only takes place five months out of the year. Those who attend the camps learn about farm animals — everything from chickens, goats and sheep, to training and caring for oxen. They also work in vegetable gardens and do some foresting.
The 60-acre farm will be adding a new winterized student dormitory, as well as a building that will include a dining hall, space for workshops, classrooms, group activities and music performances. This space will double the farm’s current camp capacity.
Some of the activities offered at the farm include learning to make honey, making yarn from wool, going for hikes and blacksmithing.
“You should see the talent shows,” said Treuer, adding to the list of activities the program offers.
Children who participate also get experience caring for animals on the farm, gardening, planting seeds and maintaining trails. The nonprofit aims to integrate kids into their learning and teach them the values of fairness and respect.
“All of our meals come directly out of the garden,” Krain noted. “A lot of kids know their vegetables but don’t know where they come from.”
The youth groups tend to contain 40 participants at a time and the ages range from 5 to 17, with the overnight programming offered to fifth- through ninth-graders.
There is a tuition charge for the farm’s programming, although scholarships are available to those who need it.
“Nobody is turned away for financial reasons,” Krain emphasized.
The construction of the new facilities is slated to be completed by early fall.
“We’ll show the children that farms don’t stop working when the snow flies,” said Ben Murray, Red Gate Farm’s founder and director. “Now they’ll learn to make maple syrup from sap, start early plants indoors and hold a baby lamb hours after its birth.”
To learn more about the educational center, visit redgatefarm.org.