At last we have our 2014 Summer Farm Camp Registration forms available! You can download them below:
Health History and Emergency Care Form 2014
Parent Guardian General Information 2014
Parent Guardian Consent Form 2014
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you here this summer!
Many rewards come out of farming. Some would like to change professions. Others do it out of love for the land or a commitment to linking farms and communities.
This is where the Stonewall Farm School can help. The Stonewall Farm School entails a year-long program in our organic dairy or garden, giving interested folks the practical farming skills and business background to explore a career in farming. We emphasize hard work, critical thinking, and appropriate technology for small farms.
Students will operate our micro-pasteurizer, hydroponic fodder system, Cool-bot refrigeration, and maple sugaring equipment on our year-round farm.
Stonewall Farm School’s year-long program starts in the fall. Tuition includes housing, a food stipend, and the potential to be a paid intern in the summer season. Applications continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis.
To Apply:
Feel free to download our Stonewall Farm School (SFS) Application Binder. If you prefer a hard copy or have other questions about the Farm School, you can e-mail Joshua Cline at jcline@stonewallfarm.org or call him at 603-357-7278 ext. 107.
2013 Stonewall Farm Hand Mali Jay!
“In contemplating the present opening prospects in human affairs, I am led to expect that a material part of the general happiness which heaven seems to have prepared for mankind will be derived from the manufacture and general use of Maple Sugar.”
Letter to Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Rush, August 19, 1791
Thanks to the discovery of maple sugar by Native Americans, the sweetness and flavor of maple sugar won over European settlers as early as the 1600s.
“In this month (February, 1756) we began to make sugar … In the sugar tree they (Native Americans) cut a notch, sloping down, and at the end of the notch stuck in a tomahawk; in the place where they stuck (it) they drove a long chip. In order to carry the water out from the tree, and under this they set their vessels to receive it.”
James Smith, An Account of Remarkable Occurences
during Captivity with the Indians. 1755-1759
It was an important part of on-farm sugar production in 18th century New England. It played a symbolic and economic role in the Civil War, as it was made by farmers in the north as opposed to cane sugar made by slaves in the south.
“The cane sugar is the result of the forced labor of the most wretched slaves, toiling under the cruel lash of a cutting whip. While the maple sugar is made by those who are happy and free.”
William Drown, Compendium of Agriculture, 1824
Sugaring season, especially when the first batch of sugar was made, became a time when young men and women could meet each other at the sugar house. There would be sugar tasting, socializing, music and dancing.
“It is pleasant to visit these sugar orchards, drink sap, lap maple molasses and make love. Let the Vermont ladies beware, for in such places they may fall in love … the delicious saccharine qualities of maple molasses, presented to the swelling lips of a beautiful lass by the hand of a smiling swain, has a wonderfully softening effect upon the head.”
Gleason’s Pictorial, 1852
Eventually, maple sugar was replaced by cane and beet sugar. Maple sugar and syrup morphed into boutique items.
In 2013, 3.2 million gallons of maple syrup were produced – 124,000 of those gallons (about 4%) in New Hampshire. As it takes over 40 gallons of maple sap boiled down to create 1 gallon of syrup, it means moving and boiling 20,000 tons of sap a year, just in New Hampshire. In contrast, the US produced 8.9 million tons of cane and beet sugar in 2013.
In celebration of sugaring time, on Saturday March 22nd, we will be hosting the 15th Annual Horse-Drawn Sap Gathering Contest. The public is invited to watch teams of draft horses compete to gather sap on a timed race course. The sugar house will be open for tours. Children can try the two man saw, lifting the old-fashioned kettle off the fire pit, and see how a small-scale evaporator works. Food and maple sundaes will also be available. Admission is $5/person, with children ages 6 and under free.
For school children, the farm offers maple sugaring programs during the sap season, generally in March. See our website for details at: www.stonewallfarm.org/Programs/School
To learn more about our programs call us at 603.357.7278 or visit our website at: www.stonewallfarm.org.
Horse-Drawn Sap Gathering at Stonewall Farm
Photo Courtesy of Jeffrey Newcomer
Happy 2014, Everybody!
Now that we are into the second full week of January 2014, we can look forward to a year of steady community events and educational programming with our school vacation camps, Summer Camp, and more. Yet, what could make 2014 an especially compelling year for us just might be going back to our roots…literally.
We have launched our Stonewall Farm School, which aims to bring +18-year-olds with or without college experience to live and learn small scale farm management. We will be operating two tracks at the Farm School: a CSA management track under our Garden Manager, Austin Mandryk, and a Dairy Management track under our Farm Manager, Glenn Yardley. The apprentices of the Farm School will live a full year at our farmhouse and engage in an exciting mix of farm management readings and studies AND daily farm “practicum” experiences in our Dairy Barn, garden rows, and beyond. We are still looking for a Dairy Management apprentice for the program so if you know someone passionate about quality dairy with local flair, feel free to call our Executive Director, Josh Cline, at (603)-357-7278 ext. 107 or via e-mail at jcline@stonewallfarm.org.
Furthermore, we are launching a YEAR-ROUND CSA! Even now in the middle of January, you can sign up for remaining Winter CSA shares or get a head start on Spring-Summer 2014 CSA shares to gain some amazingly fresh produce and financially support your community farm. Plus, come June of this year, we plan to launch our Milk CSA so that you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, and anyone within a reasonable commute of Stonewall Farm can pick up weekly half-gallons of our pasteurized or raw milk direct from our organic dairy cows! For more information on how you can start building up your “Fuller Diet CSA,” feel free to call our Garden Manager, Austin Mandryk, at (603)-357-7278 ext. 112 or via e-mail at amandryk@stonewallfarm.org.
Yes, a new year with new possibilities, especially as we’re also beginning a partnership on local dairy promotion with the New England Dairy Promotion Board! Feel free to stay tuned on our website or friend us on our Facebook profile, “Stonewall Farm,” for more updates.
Also, take note on your calendars that our first community event of 2014 kicks off Saturday February 8th with our Frozen Farm Festival from 11 am-3 pm!
Thank you all for helping make Stonewall Farm your community farm!
Photo Courtesy of Stonewall Farm
We are in the beginning stages of offering a year-round Milk CSA from our award-winning, certified organic dairy. Let us know if you are interested in local milk, right now, right here. When we reach our 150 member goal, we can make it happen. Please pass the word on to your family and friends. We need your help to spread the word.
The simple link for referral is: http://www.stonewallfarm.org/csaform
Thanks you all for helping to make Stonewall Farm, Stonewall Strong!
Wild Roots is now offering three 8 week sessions that run on Mondays from 8:30-11:30 (a shortened schedule that includes snack, but not lunch). The sessions are as follows: Session I: Sept. 16th – Nov. 4th; Session II: Jan. 27th – March 24th, and; Session III: March 31st – May 19th. The cost is $175/session. Space is quite limited!
These Mondays will run very similar to what we are doing currently at Wild Roots, but we will not venture as far from the building (so we can better address potty training/diapering). Those registered for these sessions will depart at 11:30 am, which allows them time to enjoy lunch and naps at home. Please e-mail llowe@stonewallfarm.org or call Liza Lowe (603)-852-2908 for more information or to enroll.
For more information, feel free to review the Monday Registration Form and Mondays Enrollment Contract documents attached. We look forward to seeing you all here!
Are you looking for a nature-based program which allows your child to follow the seasons and benefit the most through hands-on experiential education and farm activities during the school year?
Wild Roots Nature School
Whether it be out of passion for making a fresh professional move, out of love for the land to manage soils and waters in an environmentally conscious way, or out of commitment to bridging our “foodscapes” with surrounding communities, many rewards come out of farming.
Of course, you also face the inevitable +12-hour work days, constant manure and soil on your clothes, and the long-term process of realizing the fruits of your labors. Yet, as recent U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics have revealed, with the median age of the American farmer being 57 years old, we need young farmers and we need them soon!
This is where we at Stonewall Farm can step in to lead the education of future farmers. We own over 120 acres of land and over 30 Holstein and Brown Swiss cattle in a certified organic dairy. We manage three acres of produce which drives a year-round CSA, as well as a maple stand which produces Grade A and B maple syrup. We have been an active farm landscape for over 250 years in our corner of southwestern New Hampshire. If anyone is in a position to launch a school centered around holistic and practical education on community-based agriculture, then Stonewall Farm School proves to be in the best position possible.
The Stonewall Farm School will be a year-long program in our organic dairy or garden, giving interested folks the practical farming skills and business background to explore a career in farming. We emphasize hard work, critical thinking, and appropriate technology for small farms. Students will operate our micro-pasteurizer, hydroponic fodder system, Cool-bot refrigeration, and maple sugaring equipment on our year-round farm.
Stonewall Farm School’s year-long program starts in the fall. Tuition includes housing, a food stipend, and the potential to be a paid intern in the summer season. We are accepting registrations on a rolling basis through November 15th.
If you’ve ever given serious thought to a farming lifestyle, or just want to learn skills to make a difference in how your community, family, and friends eat, consider signing up for the Stonewall Farm School. You’ll get dirty, but you’ll also get fulfilled.
For more information on Stonewall Farm School, you can e-mail Joshua Cline at jcline@stonewallfarm.org or call him at 603-357-7278 ext. 107.
Stonewall Farmscape
Stonewall Farm strives to be a valuable resource to area schools while also meeting their educational mission of connecting people to the land and the role of local agriculture in their lives. Our Tapline Guide offers just the school program options your class and your children deserve. The program listing contains information on the New Hampshire State Standards that each program covers. We are always willing to discuss how we can adapt or adjust our programs to meet the needs of local teachers. If you have any questions, or desire a custom program based on a topic you don’t see available, please call our program director Hannah Fleischmann at (603)-357-7278.
This year, we will be featuring “Farm Animals,” “Wetland Wildlife,” “Farm to Table,” “Ice Harvesting, “Maple Sugarin’,” and more programs.
To access our Tapline Guide with information on the programs we offer for the 2013-2014 school year, please click here.
We look forward to seeing you and your class here at Stonewall Farm soon!
Stonewall Farm 