Transformations at Blue & Silver Farm support agriculture, outdoor education, leadership

Blue & Silver Farm, home of outdoor education at Pickering College, is being transformed with ongoing changes to enhance experiential learning opportunities for students.

The approximately 75 acres of land located in the nearby town of Whitchurch-Stouffville is owned by Pickering College and was a gift from the late Charles F. Boyd, a past teacher of 53 years, alumni ambassador and beloved member of the community. It serves not only as a home for agricultural and outdoor education, but with several recent innovations, the farm provides leadership opportunities, hands-on activities, and interactive lessons for all grades.

The transformation began in the spring with the launch of the learning garden, where Middle School students planted the first crop of potatoes and beans. Over the course of the summer and fall, the produce was harvested and donated to local food organizations in our community. The learning garden is currently a small plot on the land, but work is underway to expand it across the entire front paddock, a project that will involve every grade in the school.

Updates continued over the summer, with day campers going out twice a week to engage in various farm-to-table activities. This served as a pilot for the school year when this program was scaled up.

Generous donations to the farm enabled the installation of six camping platforms and canvas tents to allow overnight activities for Pickering College students, further opening access to the farm for evening programs. The platforms were installed at the end of the summer and each one can accommodate between eight and 10 individuals. Our Grade 5 class was the first group to use them during a special trip to Blue & Silver Farm. As the inaugural overnight group, the students engaged in a simulation animal survival game. The evening program allowed them to explore the forest, acting as herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores while learning about food chains, impacts of human activity and climate change on habitats and ecosystems. Following this successful experience, the overnight programming will expand to include more grades as the school year continues.

Transformations are ongoing, and Pickering College has partnered with the University of Guelph for a Grade 9 Global Leadership Program project that will see students research, design, and market an eco-friendly and innovative outdoor education facility for Blue & Silver Farm. “This is really what we want to keep doing: thinking about what we need there and having our students co-create the various resources that will really help us bring this outdoor facility to life,” says Julia Hunt, Assistant Head of School, Strategic Initiatives.

In the spring, the farm will become home to a number of chickens, providing many unique learning opportunities, from Middle School students creating the chicken coops in the Makerspace to the Junior School students incubating the eggs and hatching the chicks, with a school-wide naming contest.

Projects like the chickens and gardens that require ongoing care will be made possible with the addition of a full-time tenant in the new year who will serve as property manager. The farmhouse is currently under renovation thanks to a very generous donor. The top floor is being transformed into the tenant’s living area, while the main floor of the farmhouse will be set up as shared programming space for students. The kitchen can be used for various farm-to-table projects while the main room will serve as a classroom and common area. There is also an artist loft and sun porch.

“All of these programs are designed to instil a sense of curiosity in our students, allowing them to be creative innovators. At the farm, students and faculty develop a strong sense of environmental stewardship and respect for the land we learn on,” says Heather Amadori, outdoor education specialist.

Program planning at Blue & Silver Farm is centred around five areas: agriculture, outdoor education, leadership, environmental stewardship and connecting knowledge. Transformations at the farm allow teachers to provide creative, curriculum-based learning, whether that’s recreational leadership activities or interactive science and geography lessons.

“A huge amount of teacher thought went into what they want this property to be,” Hunt says. “There’s opportunity for everybody to bring their ideas to life.” New and innovative programming will continue at Blue & Silver Farm this spring with the addition of tree-tapping equipment. The Grade 4 students will be the first to put their sugar bush skills to the test at the farm this spring.

“Our goal is to provide the opportunity for every class across the Junior and Middle Schools to visit the farm as an integral part of their experiential learning throughout the changing seasons,” Amadori said. “In the Senior School, a focus is to create authentic and meaningful learning opportunities that extend beyond the classroom walls.”