Bowers School Farm
[00:00:00] Hey there. Welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap. I'm Christa Hein, former nonprofit girl turned farm education entrepreneur. I've spent the last 30 years creating hands-on programs that connect people to the land, animals, and the traditions that nourish our daily lives. If you're listening, you probably believe what I do, that farm education is needed now more than ever, not just on rural farms, but in suburbs, cities, and everywhere in between.
In this podcast, you'll hear real stories and practical advice from farm educators all across the country - people who are creating change through their programs in creative and inspiring ways. Whether you're dreaming about starting your first program, are already knee deep in your own farm education work, or are just curious about how others are impacting their communities through farm education, you're in the right place. [00:01:00] Let's dig in.
Christa Hein: Welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap Podcast. I'm your host Christa Hein, and today we're taking a deep dive into the educational programming at Bowers School Farm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Since 1967, Bowers School Farm has served as a hands-on learning space for students of all ages, offering a curriculum that integrates agriculture with classroom learning from early childhood experiences to high school career pathways in veterinary science and agriculture.
The farm provides a wide range of opportunities for students to connect with the land, animals, and food systems. Our guest today is Megan Isabelle, the Learning Expedition Leader at Bowers School Farm. With a background in outdoor and community education, Megan has spent the last four years designing and leading field trip programs welcoming thousands of students to the farm each [00:02:00] year.
We'll be discussing how Bower School Farm creates meaningful educational experiences and what lessons other farm educators can take from their model. Megan, welcome to the podcast.
Megan Isabelle: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk more about farm education.
Christa Hein: Awesome. Well, Megan, can you start by telling us a little bit about your own background?
What led you to work in farm-based education and how did you find your way to Bower School Farm?
Megan Isabelle: It was fun to reflect on this in getting ready for this interview. I grew up in the middle of nowhere farmland in lower Michigan, right near Ohio. So for me it was just a part of everyday life. My grandfather was a pig, corn and soybean farmer when I was younger, and then my neighbors around me also had pig farms, corn farms, of that nature.
I never personally lived on a farm, but I knew a lot of people who did. So for me, it was just a part of growing up what I was used to and saw [00:03:00] and had the experience with. And then I moved, moved out of town. I went off to college and wanted to experience different sides of education and the world and landed in outdoor environmental recreation.
Christa Hein: Mm-hmm.
Megan Isabelle: I worked in numerous parks and rec facilities, summer camps, adventure centers, and before coming to the farm, I worked more community education based, so I worked for a local community nonprofit and helped to be their director of programs and classes.
So, I really got to see the community side and how to develop programming for community where everyone's interest is a little different and how to bring that in and tie that all together. And then I saw the farm. I started there part-time and really fell in love with what they were offering to the community. It was like a little piece of my home in the city.
Christa Hein: Yeah.
Megan Isabelle: And when they had my current role available, I wanted to apply and bring that to everyone else [00:04:00] and be a part of that experience for kids who are also in the city. And, you know, this is their first time seeing a farm and learning where their food comes from. So it was really fun to see kind of my life coming full circle in that experience.
Christa Hein: Awesome. Can you give us an overview of what your role is as the Learning Expedition Leader and maybe what a typical day looks like for you?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, so I work with a wonderful team of educators to teach students of all ages.
You know, you start students from a young age all the way up to our senior adults. Everyone is a student to us, and so we bring them, or bring some farm education to them. And just getting everyone having the experience of “where does my food come from?” and asking those questions.
So we plan field trips for our school district. Districts surrounding us will come out and visit. We do community classes and workshops, and we work alongside our [00:05:00] other teams on the farm. So, our event teams, things like that, to help bring and push together that mission.
Christa Hein: So Bowers School Farm is unique in that it's owned and operated by a public school district. Can you tell us a little bit about how the farm is integrated into the school district and how it likes to serve students?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, so we have our K through five or our developmental kindergarten through five come out for field trips and they either come out to us at the farm, or we have a sister site, Johnson Nature Center.
And so, between the two sites, they come out to enhance their in-classroom curriculum.
Christa Hein: Nice.
Megan Isabelle: So right now, we've been working on launching our chick hatching unit. So, we're getting all the incubators set up, the eggs set to go, so students will hatch those chicks right there in their classroom, learn about care and how they're the caregiver for those chicks.
And then bring them back to the farm and have a full day experience [00:06:00] about where do the chicks go, how do they develop, how we care for them as farmers and how they've helped. And just about the different wildlife on the farm. So, we'll go see different types of birds too, so they can kind of compare and contrast the bird types.
Christa Hein: Nice. We do chick catching programs as well, and oh, the students just love it. The teachers love it. It's such a beautiful experience for them to get to take a part in. And so for them to be able to come back to the farm and see those chickens, oh, that's beautiful.
Megan Isabelle: Yes. And they see where the eggs are laid and so they get to see that full cycle. And it's not just the teachers and the students; it's the whole school. When we walk in with the supplies, everyone knows it's spring, it's time. Chicks are here.
Christa Hein: Nice. So I want to talk a little bit more about those younger students. So they get to do chick hatching. What other kinds of hands-on learning experiences do those younger students work with on the farm?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, so we have a couple [00:07:00] different for young age, so that one's our first graders. We have second grade come out for a plants program. It's called Plants Watch Us Grow. So, they have their own work they do in their classroom around plants, and when they're here with us, we show them all the growing spaces, how it's not just one.
So, we show them the greenhouse or hoop house, our outdoor production gardens, and they get their hands dirty. So, they're building succession planting bowls. They're transferring starts into bigger pots, so they learn a little bit about container gardening, that it doesn't have to be, you know, that big garden out back that not everybody has, and that's okay that we can grow food in different ways. And so they just get to explore all the parts of a growing area and where their food comes from. We also talk about how seeds travel, which is really fun for them. And all the different natural ways that seeds make their way around and why you might see something growing in a crack on a sidewalk, or why this tree is here in the middle of a field.
Christa Hein: Yeah. All those connections
Megan Isabelle: And [00:08:00] then, we recently started - one of my favorite programs is a community program, just because I have had the joy of starting it and working with some of my team to get it going. It's for preschoolers and toddlers. So we have a You, Me, and the Barns and Pasture Pals and so we invite the two to three year olds and three to five year olds with a caregiver to come and explore the farm in different ways. So, we've set monthly themes for them. This past month was just spring on the farm. What's emerging when all the winter's gone and the sun's starting to come out and it's getting warmer, and how the farm changes, because a lot of them will come different months and see how the farm changes in the seasons.
And we'll start to just get our hands dirty in different areas. So they get that first interaction with what our farm is.
Christa Hein: I love those repeat connections. And I understand that your developmental kindergarten students will visit the farm once a month. What kind of impact have you seen when students can have regular [00:09:00] visits?
Megan Isabelle: I can't speak too much in developmental kindergarten. That is, we have an Early Childhood Leader and she focuses on that age group. But I can say for our community program, like the You, Me, and the Barns, it is amazing. One-off experiences are really great as well, but having that tie in consistently is amazing to see how comfortable a student gets, how much more they're willing to explore and their curiosity opens when they've had the chance to come back and layer on and stagger their learning. It's really amazing to see.
Christa Hein: I bet that because families are coming or parents are joining them, that you're seeing those kind of growths in them as well, as well as the relationship, learning how to just experience nature as a family.
Oh, that's so wonderful.
Megan Isabelle: We also see a lot of our students on field [00:10:00] trips. They'll come out for a day visit, but we might see them because we have our weekend programs. We might see them bring back their families on our weekends to show them what they did and what they learned. And you know, these are our chicks that we grew and brought back to the classroom.
Even though we can't guarantee - that's a lot of chicks. I don't know if that one is yours, right? However, yes, you did help them.
Christa Hein: So, Bowers School Farm really serves the whole age range. And you also have programs for middle and high schoolers.
How do you think the farm setting can support students who have learning differences? To just experience things in a different environment?
Megan Isabelle: So I think it gets students out of a typical setting and gets them into a place where they can explore and learn in a way that they don't realize they're learning. And I think the learning goes beyond just, you know, curriculum [00:11:00] and making sure we hit standards is great, but it's the other learning that happens while you're on the farm that is just as important. So we see a lot of students who are working through sensory, and so on the farm there's a lot of different textures. And so, this is a great place for them to learn and experience those safely. Or they're allowed to be loud. And I think that's something that students don't always get to be or do is just be loud and, you know, we don't want to scream at the animals, they'll get a little scared, but we're outdoors. It can be a little loud, it can be a little messy. And it lets them just be more outside, to work through what they need to.
It's those other skills, and they're learning empathy and care and doing it in a different environment. They're still learning those in the classroom, and I think that is great for students who they thrive well there, but for those who need a different environment, this really helps them do it without realizing they're doing it and build that confidence in [00:12:00] themselves.
Christa Hein: So, the school also offers high school classes focused on veterinary science and agriculture. Can you talk about those courses and how they prepare students for future careers in those fields?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, I can. We have a really great vet ag science teacher who houses her classroom on the farm.
So, students from Bowers Academy or the high school will bus over to these classes to learn different stages. So, we have ag and natural resources and a zoology, I think, science class. So these students are learning real world applications. So you get to learn the classroom work, but then you go get out and try it yourself.
You get to work with the actual animals that you're learning about in your textbook and apply it during that same class period. And our teacher does an amazing job getting them really comfortable and wanting to do that work. And some of them go off to colleges for vet [00:13:00] science still. So it's that career readiness piece that they get by being on an actual farm, doing this work.
Yeah, it's really cool to see those high schoolers just grow in confidence too throughout the school year.
Christa Hein: I bet, to have an idea of what you want to do, but then actually get to try it out and see how that fits with your
Megan Isabelle: or maybe try it on realize, ooh, maybe, maybe not this path and that's okay, but you got to try it and you got to see what it was about before you went off to school, or went to trade school, or went to a farm to work.
You got to have that experience first.
Christa Hein: Now Bower School Farm also supports students involved in 4H and Future Farmers of America. How do those programs complement what students are learning on the farm?
Megan Isabelle: Gosh, that's a good question. So well! I've worked with myself the 4H and FFA students because they volunteer on the farm.
So not only are they coming after school to work with animals, they learn how to do chores. They're [00:14:00] building those different pieces, but they also volunteer with us. So they share what they're learning in their 4H program and FFA programs with the community.
And it's amazing to see them get really excited about an animal or a topic that they care about, and then they wrap in other people into that and get them excited about what they're learning.
Christa Hein: Oh, I love it.
Megan Isabelle: So, yeah, we see a lot of those students in the afternoon, evening parts of the day while they're working with their animals or they're helping our farmers with chores, getting that firsthand experience on what they're working on.
Christa Hein: So, I want to ask about your animals. So, the farm is home to a wide variety - you have sheep, goats, horses, pigs, llamas. How do students interact with those animals? And then what are some of the goals of what they might learn from working with them?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, so the how they interact depends on their level of training and comfort, and which type of [00:15:00] animal it is.
So, for example, we have our farm discovery days that are our out-of-district field trips. So these are students that are coming for just a day, a few hours to visit with the animals. We will have hands-on experiences for them, so we'll bring in our horses and our ponies, and they get to learn the different brushes and how to groom them properly.
Or we'll pull out our rabbits and they'll learn about the rabbits and like how to groom them and how to make sure they're healthy. And then, all of our animals that are out within reach our students can interact with because of them being, you know, only there for a few hours. They won't go in with every animal, but they'll still get to learn about them, see them.
A lot of our sheep will still come up to the fences, so they get to see the wool and feel it, and understand why they're growing wool. But then we do have our animals that they get really hands-on with from day one. Because we're in a safe space and can help them do that properly and show them this is how we do want to handle our animals and how we're safe for ourselves [00:16:00] and this animal and making sure everyone has that good experience.
And then we have students, especially, you know, we mentioned the high school students, the 4H students, FFA students, they go through training with our farmers on how to work with the animal in a caring and respectful way, in a safe way. And as they go throughout their years in those programs, they get to work with more and more animals.
Christa Hein: Hmm, nice. Yeah. So, you also have a growing program where students can work in greenhouses and hoop houses. Can you talk a little bit about that and plant science and food production and how those different programs all might work together?
Megan Isabelle: It's really fun to have both in one place because farmers do both.
Farmers work with animals and farmers grow crops, so it's fun to look at both when they're on our sites. And we have our plants program, which is specifically about growing our plants on our sites and how to do that and the different ways we can [00:17:00] do that. And then we open it up to the community. I did last summer. It was really fun. I think it was something about reading on the farm. I brought a book out and we sat on different spaces of the farm, read about what we were seeing or doing, and then do an activity. So, I read a book about indoor/outdoor gardening and then I had everyone help me harvest carrots from the ground.
And that no one had ever done that before. So, these kids and their parents or grandparents are over here pulling carrots and realizing how much bigger they are or more orange they are. And then I was like, yeah, you can just eat it right out the ground. And they were like, wait, we can, yes, yes we can.
But we did go and wash them and then everyone got to take a bite or snack on the carrots they harvested. And it was amazing. The kids would pause and go, wow, this tastes different.
Christa Hein: Yeah.
Megan Isabelle: I'm like, yeah, it does. Someone, any food we eat, someone grows somewhere. This is [00:18:00] something you just pulled out of the ground two minutes ago. So, it's going to taste a little different than the carrots you might get from the grocery store. And so to see their eyes and their heads trying to connect that, and then they just walk off eating their carrot. And parents will go, my child has never wanted to eat carrots before. And then they're there sitting there wanting, I want to take more home.
Christa Hein: Yeah. So, the produce that you grow on the farm, is it purely for the educational purpose or is there an outlet for that? Do students sell some of that? Is it used in the cafeteria? How do you use the produce?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, so we do have some sections that are for education and then our ag production coordinator harvest it and puts it in our farm store, which is open on weekends.
So, she'll grow for the store, and then she does a harvest club and just growing food for the local community to come and buy and be a part of. And then she also offers workshop classes too, so people can come and learn [00:19:00] how to apply that to their own spaces.
Christa Hein: I was just going to ask about your community programs because I know that the farm doesn't just serve students, it also welcomes the broader community. So I saw that you have summer camps and you serve scout programs. Can you talk about some of those opportunities, how you offer those and then how that connects agriculture in your community?
Megan Isabelle: We've always offered scout programs, but we're really working to broaden our reach on that. So, we've been working with our local, Girl Scout network and running programs with them and getting girls out to the farm. So, we'll work on badges.
We have one that we're working on planning now that is their garden badge and their flower badge. So we, I think we have it planned for August, which is our prime time for all of our harvesting. So we're going to work on the parts of the plant so they understand the different pieces of it, but then we're going to have them out harvesting and creating with what they harvest and maybe have them plant [00:20:00] too.
We haven't gotten that far, but really growing. So, all of badges we work on with scouts is related to agriculture in some way and taking their badges, and if they're not quite aligning, we help them align. So we're doing like shapes in nature - that might not seem like a farm program, but it is.
There's a lot of, a lot of shapes and different patterns that you can find on the farm. So, we're excited to offer that one this upcoming summer and just see how we can get girls connected in their own interests. Not everyone that we run into is going to be as interested in agriculture as the next person. So, it's meeting someone, and I've always said, in any of my jobs have always been outdoor education, it's meeting someone where they are and helping them get to where they want to be with that learning. So it's, you know, they might not be really into helping us muck a stall, but maybe they're really into art, and so how can we take agriculture and art and put [00:21:00] those together?
So that they're learning about both, but they're, it's catching their interests to get them here to learn. And I think that's really important.
Christa Hein: Yeah. And making them more comfortable with the space and with animals and with plants and healthy food. And you just never know that impact that that's going to make beyond the curricular standards. Just that - creating people, you know, and how to help people get those different experiences.
Megan Isabelle: I will say when I was younger, I was a Girl Scout and I took a horse riding class, because that was one of our badges. I could not tell you now - I could because of the field of work I'm in - but if you were to ask me what like scientific thing or what did you learn that you had to do to care for this horse? I probably wouldn't be able to tell you, but I do remember how it felt to be on the horse and to work with that horse. So for me as an educator, wherever I am, I just want to build a place that students want to come [00:22:00] back, they want to learn more, and they're going to remember that experience is joyful and something that they want to learn more about. Yeah. And that's always the goal.
Christa Hein: Beautiful. So you also offer adventure education including a ropes course. How do those activities fit in the farm's educational mission, and what skills do students develop through those?
Megan Isabelle: Yeah, so adventure education, , I don't know many farms that have them, I think more should. So I work closely with our high ropes course and have throughout my career, worked in adventure education. And I think it goes a hand in hand with learning as a whole student and applying that to other areas.
So when you're out on the course, you're learning team building, how to work together as a team, how to be safe, how to find comfort and belief in yourself as well as your team, because it's got some risk involved. And so, you really have [00:23:00] to believe in yourself, believe in your team, and figure out what your limits are.
So, there's that comfort zone that goes into that, and that applies to anywhere. And so, they're learning how to step out of that without going too far to expand it. So that can apply anywhere outside of that program, because on the farm too, a lot of students are out of their comfort zone and so they're learning how to push past that and learn that they can do something.
So that I think can go in anywhere - back in the classroom or with us on our programs.
Christa Hein: Yeah, I mean, it seems like, I've never really thought about adventure education on a farm, but adventure education is life skills. Like you said, the confidence, the you-can-do-it, you can be brave, you can try new things, and that's what farm education is as well. It's these life skills, so that that does work so nicely together. Awesome.
So you've been with the Bower School Farm for four years now, and I'm just curious how have things evolved in that [00:24:00] time or are there any new initiatives or directions that you're excited about for the future?
Megan Isabelle: I'm excited just to keep bringing more students to the farm. I mean, really just growing the programs that students enjoy. It's always, I mean, that's what we've been doing and it's exciting to see more and more students want to be on the farm and on our site and just learning about it, which makes me happy as an educator. Because it just means the more students that I get to teach and help build that inquiry and that curiosity.
So just hoping to be able to keep doing that. That's what I love to do.
Christa Hein: Awesome. So, what advice would you give to other farm educators who are looking to create meaningful curriculum-connected experiences for students?
Megan Isabelle: Such a big question. It's, you can go so many different ways. For me, whenever I'm creating a new program or trying to think of what else can I do in my [00:25:00] programs, I always go back to what do the students want?
What are they telling me? In my previous interactions that they want to see more of or something that they're not getting within the program that I can start to include, because I think, really as an educator, it's not about me. It's not, I mean, I love it, so I want to teach it, but it's really about the students.
And what do they want, what do they need? And really getting their feedback. So, I think that's really important because if they're not interested, they're not really going to learn anything when they're here with us. So just getting that student feedback. What do they want to see? What do they want to do?
What are they interested in? And being okay to pivot. I've been on a program and realized I was planning to talk about one topic and they were so interested in this. So, we pivoted because that was something that they were engaged in and they were excited about, and I wasn't [00:26:00] going to force their learning onto something else.
So we took that moment and just talked about what they were interested in. So I didn't lose their engagement. So I think, being flexible.
Christa Hein: Yeah, that is such a great piece of advice, to recognize your own agenda and how that needs to change based on like, oh, ignore that really cool thing that's happening over there because I'm on a schedule and to like be able to flow and follow their attention and direction and interest. Love it. Yeah.
Well, Megan, thank you so much for sharing your insights and giving us a behind the scenes look at the educational work that you're doing. It's been so inspiring to learn how the farm school connects students to agriculture in such a meaningful way from early childhood all the way through high school career pathways.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Megan Isabelle: Thank you for having me.
Christa Hein: For our listeners who want to learn more about Bowers School Farm, [00:27:00] you can visit www.schoolfarm.org to explore their programs and resources.
Thank you for joining us on the Farm Educators Roadmap Podcast. Until next time, keep cultivating knowledge and growing connections.
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