OUR VISION
To save something, you have to love it. And to love it, you have to know it. At Paradise Farm, kids and adults get a chance to know and love the natural world.
As big industrial agriculture challenges our environment and our food supply, Paradise Farm invites you to do a little healing of your own. This is a place to be immersed in the natural world and celebrate your food, from seed to table.
Paradise Farm offers something deeper than the typical “edu-tainment” field trips where children and their adult chaperones take a hay ride to a field where someone has dumped a bunch of pumpkins. Every person that comes to the farm is given some meaningful work to do that is appropriate to their age and, through a relationship built over time, develops a genuine connection to their cultural and agricultural heritage and the natural world.
THE PROBLEM
Paradise Farm Education Program has been in operation for six years. In that time, our little farm program has more than tripled. Now that's a good problem to have! But sometimes when we've got a school group of 60 kids at the farm and it starts raining hard, we all crowd into the barn. It's hard to keep a group of kids' attention in a loud, crowded barn. This fall, the mosquitoes have been so bad we are afraid they are going to carry off the little ones in our parent-child program. A multi-purpose sheltered outdoor space is something we long for -- a place to gather a small group, out of the rain, the sun, and away from the bugs, to enjoy a story or some songs or a quiet activity.
THE SOLUTION
This canvas outdoor classroom will give us needed space to gather a group of children, teens or adults for a project, a story or just to be quiet and listen to the sounds of nature. It will also allow more visitors to join us for a multiday farm immersion program that engages head, heart and hands. Stay overnight at the farm!
- Experience the daily rhythms of the farm
- Harvest veggies from organic garden, gather eggs, and care for the animals
- Discover the farm ecosystem through hands-on activities
- Learn about soil biology, nutrition and more while tending the garden
- Explore nature while learning about life in the forest
- Build relationships with the natural world
- Create nature-inspired art
- Explore history on this original pioneer homestead (established in 1847, before Wisconsin was even a state!)
This outdoor classroom will help us further fulfill our vision to help connect people to nature and their agricultural roots.
PROJECT BUDGET
Because we are frugal, the construction of an outdoor classroom at Paradise Farm will only cost us $3200. We've got some of the best and most talented volunteers around to build the platform and construct the tent. If we can raise another $500 to help furnish the classroom, we'll be all set to begin using it right away in Spring of 2019.
OUR TEAM
We've got some of the most impressive farm education staff around. Our farm education teachers are all experienced educators. They love the natural world, growing and cooking their own food, caring for the animals and the environment. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and visitors to Paradise Farm always leave wanting more.
Paradise Farm education program is run by Mary O'Connell, early childhood educator for over 20 years, Training Coordinator for LifeWays North America, author of Observing Young Children; A Tool for Meaningful Assessment and co-author of Home Away From Home: LifeWays Care of Children and Families with Cynthia Aldinger. Mary and her husband, Jim, are the current stewards of Paradise Farm. You can read their story, and that of the Paradise Farm education program here.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
We need you! Donate to our crowdfunding campaign by selecting a reward from the list on the right. We are so grateful for your support!
