Down on the Farm: A Place of Exploration, Wonder, and Learning

By Steve Wall, Director of Educational Programming at Weddington Farm

Nestled in Union County, North Carolina, a remarkable 330-acres of land serves as an expansive outdoor learning lab for our students in grades JK–12.

Given generously by Smoky and Margaret Bissell in 2022, the property is an exemplary model of sustainable farming and offers vast and varied natural surroundings, such as wooded expanses with native trees and plants, open natural spaces, a pond, and a stream. It includes vegetables, goats, chickens, beekeeping, mushroom farming, an eight-mile trail system, and so much more.

Since being appointed director of educational programming at Weddington Farm last spring, it’s been my privilege to investigate and develop the many unique opportunities for experiential education that this diverse landscape offers. Along with Ewan Macaulay, farm site manager, and the creativity and imagination of our talented faculty, staff, and parent community, we have already provided students with numerous hands-on lessons in agricultural education, ecology, biology, environmental science, and the arts.

Studies show that outdoor learning delivers many benefits—from reducing stress and improving moods to boosting concentration and increasing a child’s engagement at school. Additionally, the ability to embed nature and the great outdoors into our curriculum offers today’s students a respite from the technology that is intertwined in their daily lives. In many ways, programming at our farm is an extension of the philosophy and work that is already happening on our current campuses through our community gardens and greenhouses on both Bissell and Cannon campuses. Weddington Farm enables us to take these concepts and grow more effectively, deliberately, and uniquely.

Programming at Every Level

To date, we’ve hosted more than 50 different field trips across all grade levels and divisions.

For instance, the 22 seniors in my Entrepreneurship course, which I’ve been teaching for seven years, used the farm as their learning laboratory this year. After visiting the site and experiencing the land firsthand, they collaborated in teams over the course of a semester to extensively research future possibilities through an entrepreneurial and business lens. Their ideas included a high- and low-ropes course, sports complex, summer camp, and special events venue—all of which were thoughtfully and enthusiastically presented to an audience of school administrators, faculty, and guests at our culminating Shark Tank style activity.

In October, eighth-grade students took the classroom outdoors for some inquiry-based learning that ties to the crop lab, water-quality sampling, and tree surveys conducted for many years on Bissell Campus. Each student participated in three of six rotations designed to enhance their classroom learning about the natural world and sustainability. The rotations included:

• Harvesting and packing crops with our onsite farmer,

• Testing surface water quality with eighth-grade science teacher Sarah Klingler,

• Surveying tree populations with eighth-grade science teacher Simon Keilty,

• Building birdhouses for the property with Rockler Woodworking,

• Conducting a bird walk survey with retired Upper School AP Psychology teacher Tony Lombardino, and

• Learning about beekeeping and mushroom farming with Queen City Bee and Urban Gourmet Farms.

Lower School students have used our farm in a variety of ways to make connections across our school programs. For example, fourth graders engaged in community building activities like taking a hayride throughout the property and roasting s’mores, along with engaging in hands-on science and art classes—they planted in the gardens and painted birdhouses that the fifth- and eighth graders built to adorn the property. Other activities have included students harvesting pumpkins to decorate as their favorite book characters, practicing the scientific method through bird walks, and creating leaf print art, a nature-inspired and eco-friendly art form.

A highlight for me was the December Lower School Holiday Farm Fest. We partnered with the Parents’ Association and Upper School Interact Club to bring the entire Lower School out to the farm for a festive day that included the PE department’s traditional Reindeer Run on the trails and service learning opportunities benefitting Aldersgate and Baby Bundles.

In the coming months, students in Honors Chemistry classes will participate in blacksmithing through a partnership with the Penland School of Craft to explore metallurgy.

Additionally, produce that is grown and harvested by our students is served in the school dining halls; the 2024 All-School Celebration and Auction included a farm-to-table private dinner experience and a parent-child fly fishing experience; we will be piloting two, fourweek summer camps beginning in June; and next year, School in the Woods for our fifth-grade students will take place at Weddington Farm.

Enriching the Student Experience

Through my continued research, I have intentionally interviewed both adults and students alike to hear their vision for the property, and how we can engage and enrich our students’ experiences. My ultimate goal is to help Weddington Farm become an extension of the Country Day classroom, while allowing us to focus on wellness, leadership, innovation, agriculture, and community.

Farm Activities

•Agricultural Education

• Harvesting, washing, packing, canning, herbs, preserving

• Floral Education (growing, arranging, and pressing)

• Plant Propagation (cutting and seed starting)

• Archery

• Arts and Crafts

• Bee Education

• Blacksmithing

• Bird Box Woodworking

• Bird Watching

• Cooking and Baking

• DEIB

• Environmental Education

• Fishing

• Hay Rides

• Livestock (goats and chickens)

• Long-term Studies (birds, forestry, and surface water)

• Low Elements Course

• Mountain Biking

• Mushroom Education (foraging and inoculation)

• Nature Art (murals and painting)

• Poetry and Writing

• Raptors and Reptiles

• Science Experiments

• Service Learning

• Summer Camps

• Tree Identification

• Water Testing

• Wellness/Meditation/Yoga