About McDowell Farm School

Each day on the farm, students apply classroom concepts to the natural world. They are excited to learn during our multi-day, overnight program that gives students a unique opportunity to experience the Farm School as a community. Students share living and dining spaces, complete projects as a team, and are asked to support one another through new challenges.

Focusing on where our food comes from, our standards-based curriculum is centered around all types of learners and differentiated for grades k-12. Our classroom extends beyond the walls of our teaching kitchen, beyond our 40 acres of gardens and barns, and even beyond the 1140 acres of forests, streams, and canyons of McDowell. We turn the world into our classroom and our place of discovery.

Caring, professional instructors, each with a bachelor's degree and diverse background of knowledge and experience, lead all classes. Farm crews are organized with a maximum student to instructor ratio of 12:1, creating a strong environment for learning, questioning, discussion and understanding. A great farm experience can be life-changing; it forms the way young learners understand the world we inhabit and our place within it.