A farm stay program for NYC and VT students and teachers to envision and collaborate on regenerative farm projects at Black Hole Hollow.
Regeneration Connection: Mission & Vision
Black Hole Hollow L3C (blackholehollow.org) invites urban and rural schools to work together to adopt and transform its 28-acre property in Southwest Vermont through regenerative farming projects during periodic retreats. School groups will gather at Black Hole Hollow to experience the outdoors and shift their relationship to nature and each other by deciding how to transform the land from pasture and woods into regenerative, edible expansions of their school communities.
Participating schools will work with Black Hole Hollow and collaborating farmers and educators throughout the school year to develop regenerative projects for the land. When possible schools will create parallel or connected projects in their school gardens to experiment with crop layouts, or grow ‘starter’ plants to be transplanted to the land in Vermont. This work will revolve around trips to the farm to camp, plant, harvest, process and preserve, eat, commune with nature, and interact with experts, educators, and students from different backgrounds.
To share the value of each trip with their school community and beyond, students will capture experiences from their perspective by creating documentary, personal reflection, and educational videos produced on site jointly with the media literacy organization, The Media Spot. These videos will amplify personal growth and learning, progress made on the farm, and the value students find in visiting and interacting with the land and their collaborators.
Background
Since 2021, Black Hole Hollow (BHH) has been developing a pilot for the school-farm partnership with a group of teachers in the Bronx who are building this idea into their school garden programs and school-wide network of health and wellness initiatives. An exploratory retreat was held at BHH in July of 2022, and the teachers will return with students in July of 2023.
In addition, a group of high school science teachers in the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn would like to offer this opportunity to their students, thereby creating supplementary content for their environmental science curriculum and expanding their gardening programs.
The Media Spot Director, Rhys Daunic, has been collaborating with the participating educators on media literacy-focused student media productions that amplify authentic student voices and school initiatives for over ten years.
Meet the schools from NYC
Get a feel for where the participants are coming from with these student-made videos produced with The Media Spot.
The Seeds of Regeneration
Our concept of bringing people together through outdoor collaborative learning and media making is rooted in Rhys Daunic’s 13 years working with his father Joel’s project, The Generation Connection, a traveling, nature-based summer camp that brought together youth and elders from different backgrounds as campers.
July 28-30, 2023 Teacher & Student Farm Stay
Black Hole Hollow will host teachers and a mix of elementary and high school students from the South Bronx, East New York, Brooklyn, and Wilmington, Vermont for a camping retreat to interact with the land, collaborate on projects, and produce videos about the experience.
The retreat experience will include:
- Daily farming activities: Mindfully laying out plants, and planting regenerative ‘permaculture guilds’* on the land;
- Getting to know people: Interacting with each other and local youth on collaborative projects, games and outdoor activities;
- Video production: Filming and editing documentary and educational videos about the experience;
- Outdoor fun activities: Swimming, hiking, games, star gazing, etc.;
- Health and wellness activities: Nature-centered mindfulness and movement activities;
- Camping: sleeping in 8 person canvas tents (with at least 1 adult from their school per 5 students; bedding provided), cooking out, and relaxing on the land.
Who will attend, and their goals for this retreat:
A Bronx elementary school garden-to-table teacher who runs school garden programs will incorporate permaculture lessons learned at Black Hole Hollow, including planting a scale model of their plot of land in Vermont in a raised bed on their playground, and planning seasonal transplanting, planting and harvesting trips during the 2023-2024 school year;
A Bronx 5th grade teacher who has incorporated lessons on regenerative agriculture, and permaculture (indigenous & African-based farming practices rooted in sustainability, regeneration, and ecological balance) in her science and social studies curriculum will integrate the documentary video productions as examples of using media to take action on issues students find important, continuing this practice in 2023-2024;
A Bronx elementary school movement and mindfulness teacher will lead mindfulness and movement activities at the retreat, and connect the retreat experience to promote her school’s focus on the need for providing students with more opportunities to be outside, and to take time for self-care and self-regulation.
3 Environmental Science Teachers from Transit Tech CTE High School in Brooklyn, NY
2-3 Teachers from Windham Southwest Supervisory Union will engage in activities with students from the city (planting, cooking, hiking, swimming, camping, documenting) with an emphasis on engaging student and teacher’s implicit biases around people from different backgrounds.
The Media Spot* has partnered with New York City K-12 schools and students for 20+ years to promote the amplification of self-reflective student voice, and media literacy through collaborative media making. TMS will collaborate with students during their farm stays to decide what to document to share their experiences as learning resources for their community and to promote the future of the program.
Local regenerative farmers and science educators will be experts on hand re: permaculture design, environmental science, and executing the planting of permaculture guilds.
Black Hole Hollow, L3C co-founders Nicole and Rhys Daunic, would like to expand their 7 year history of hosting arts and education-based retreats, to further activate the land they are stewarding. They want to offer this land to those with less access to this type of space and foster regenerative ideas that help people reorient to the environment and each other.
* The Media Spot was founded by Black Hole Hollow’s Rhys Daunic
Tentative Daily Schedule
July 28 – Set up Camp & Arrival Party
- Arrive after 2pm; move into tents
- 6pm welcome and dinner
- Defining the “Regeneration Connection”
- Introduce the concept of regeneration;
- Briefly introduce the regenerative vision for the land we are looking at, imagine projects that could turn this space into a habitat to support all species that inhabit it, and engage and serve each of our communities;
- Introduce the goal of pitching ideas for return visits and projects at Black Hole Hollow;
- Camping: Fire making, star gazing, marshmallow roasting, card games, etc.
July 29 – Orientation & Plot Introduction
- Wake up/breakfast
- Health & wellness activity: 5 senses activity in the barn
- Morning gathering: Nature orientation (safety, ticks, bears, devices etc.), and review of the agenda for the day;
- Silent trail ‘walk & doc’: Small groups are introduced to the property through a silent hike; each participant will use video to capture spaces they are moved by or curious about along the way
- Walk reflection: everyone journals about their ‘wonderings and noticings’ on the walk (invited to do so on video);
- Break: Swim, chat, play, hammock, bocce ball, lounge…
- Farm Activity: Meet under the apple tree with a snack & cool drinks
- Introduction to permaculture ‘guilds,’ the starter plants, and regenerative agriculture framework by a local farmer;
- Decide how to lay out the guilds and plant them;
- Sit with your guild and think about future projects;
- Share what you are envisioning with student filmmakers.
- Lunch: Grab and go from the Apothecary
- Free time: Swim, hammock, sit, chat, check in with home…
- Media logging, school visioning & pitching stories
- Students import & review the media from the morning action;
- Schools sit together and talk about what they will take back to their community;
- Each school breaks out to discuss their goals.
- Choice time: Build a bridge over the creek, explore the woods, build a fire ring and set up wood for the night’s campfire, paint rocks with messages to place in the rock wall or fire ring, tie dye shirts;
- Dinner, Bocce Ball invitation, Stone Skipping on the pond
- 8pm star gazing (TBD) lead by a local expert
July 30 – Tending the Seeds
- Wake up/breakfast
- Health & wellness activity and morning gathering
- Location TBD: Share out to the group (documented by student filmmakers): each school ‘pitches’ ideas for a return trip(s) to Black Hole Hollow
- Lunch and goodbye
Transportation
Black Hole Hollow will support participants in their travel plans on a case-by-case basis. We are located 3.5 hours from the Bronx, NY by car, and we can arrange pickup at the Albany Amtrak station.
Safety
Elementary students will be chaperoned by 3 adults from their school at all times. They will be sleeping in a tent near the house on the property, with internet and cell phone service for communication. Swimming will be attended by a lifeguard with life jackets provided. Ticks are present in this area. We will provide natural tick repellent, and advise students to stay in mowed areas, and on trails in the woods. All will take time out to “tick check” throughout each day.
BLACK HOLE HOLLOW 