Community Based Education

In addition to conserving important local resources, South Hero Land Trust plays a vital role in the community through educational initiatives that foster learning about farms, food, and the natural world. We host educational programs for students, including our farm to school and nature based programs at Folsom Education & Community Center and our summer camp and afterschool programs. We also host programs for community members of all ages, including our annual Winter Wednesdays Speaker Series, Nature Rambles, farm tours, outdoor workshops, and more. Our goals are always to gather together, build community, and connect with and steward the land.

Please see our Events Page to learn about specific upcoming events.

Community Programs

Here is a sampling of our ongoing community programming.

Winter Wednesdays Speaker Series

Since 2019 we have been partnering with the Worthen Library to host events at the library on a variety of topics related to land, food, farming, nature, history and more. Winters in a small town can be isolating, so we designed this series to take place during the winter when people are looking for something to do. During the first two years of COVID most of our events were held online, and since then we have continued to film events when possible.

Visit our Winter Wednesdays Page or our YouTube Channel to view past Winter Wednesday Events, and visit our Events Page for upcoming events.

Image: Geologist Stephen Howe giving a lecture on the geology history of the Champlain Islands at the Worthen Library.

Farm to School and
Nature-based Education

South Hero Land Trust has spent over a decade partnering with Folsom School to provide farm to school and nature-based education. Our programs include summer camps, afterschool clubs, garden activities, service learning projects, field trips, and more. Learn more about each here:

Summer Camps & Afterschool Clubs

South Hero Land Trust partners with the Grand Isle Supervisory Union and Folsom school to host summer camps and afterschool clubs for students. Our programs are usually based in the Folsom Learning Garden and/or the adjacent South Hero Recreation Park, and spend most of our time outside on the land. Some of our favorite programs include our Winter Wonderland Club, Nature Detectives Club, Nature Art Club, Farmers & Foragers Camp, Growing Gardeners Camp, and our Things With Wings Camp where we celebrate and learn about all things that fly. To learn more about upcoming camps and clubs, email info@shlt.org and/or adosztan@gisu.org, or check out your schools’ website or newsletter for offerings.

Image: local kids explore the South Hero Learning Garden, home base for our afterschool clubs and summer camps.

Most of the produce grown at the Folsom Learning Garden gets delivered right to the school cafeteria, where chefs Julia and Cecile make it into delicious meals. But a substantial amount of food also goes to to local food assistance programs, including the Food For Thought Summer Meal Program, and occasionally to the Grand Isle Food Shelf. Finally, there is always a “snacking” bed where students can munch on ground cherries, kale, and other fun stuff whenever they like.

After 10 years, the garden program was beginning to outgrow the space, so in 2019 South Hero Land Trust began to develop plans for a new garden, that would allow all of these activities, invite classes to meet in the garden more easily, and be more accessible than the old space. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the garden became even more critical than before, as both a space to grow food, and as an outdoor classroom.

With funding from the Vermont Community Garden Network, RiseVT, the Ben & Jerry’s Community Action Team in St. Albans, and local families, we were able to complete a total garden rebuild in 2020. The layout was updated to include roughly 30% increase in square-footage of bed space, as well as two new accessibility beds geared for those in wheelchairs, a new outdoor classroom in the center, and a more efficient system for maintenance, among other changes.

With this new space, South Hero Land Trust staff, volunteers, parents and teachers are able to use the garden as a place for learning activities, from math to art to language. We also work with community volunteers in the summer months to maintain the garden and harvest for local food shelves and meal programs. If you’d like to volunteer, email Guy Maguire at guy@shlt.org. We can’t wait to see you in the garden.