ļ»æ46 - Timberview Farmstead
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Christa Hein: Hey there, welcome to the Farm Educatorās 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. ā
Christa Hein: Hi, welcome back to the Farm Educatorās Roadmap. Today's guest is Sarah Siburt, Executive Director of Timberview Farmstead in Fort Worth, Texas. Timberview is a nonprofit teaching farm built on the site of a former golf course that's been transformed into a farm and educational campus. Before joining Timberview, Sarah spent 23 years in public education, and since stepping into this role in 2023, she's helped launch the organization's educational programming in a major way.
But what makes this story especially interesting is that Timberview is still incredibly new. The farm officially opened to the public in 2024, yet it's 150 acres already includes livestock barns, aquaponic systems, field trips, and educational programming, mentorship programs, and long-term plans for community gathering spaces.[00:02:00]
So today I'm excited to go behind the scenes of what it actually takes to build something this ambitious from the ground up. Sarah, thanks so much for joining me today.
Sarah Siburt: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Christa Hein: Oh good. So, before we get into the educational programming itself, I think listeners would love to understand how a project of this scale even gets started in the first place. So Timberview Farmstead is such a large and ambitious project. Where did the original vision for it come from?
Sarah Siburt: It is a large and ambitious project, but it did come from Randy Brown. And he had a dream of opening a place where students and teachers in the community could gather and really extend their learning beyond the classroom, be a place where they can belong, they can feel safe, it gets them away from screens.
And he really did initially want to build a [00:03:00] school out here at Timberview. And that dream has expanded into even more than just one school. And instead of just reaching those students, we are reaching thousands of students by opening our field trips and our community gatherings and our afterschool programming. So, it's really exploded once we got started and saw the need for agricultural education, for a way to get kids outside. A way for communities to connect in a place where we are actually particularly located, a place where families, it's safe to be outside and they have some recreational space.
So, we are in South Fort Worth, so we are in a very busy part of town. So, to have some recreational space where students can unplug and families can unplug is really what it has turned into. But initially it was just one little school here at the farm was the initial dream, but it has expanded to much more.
Christa Hein: [00:04:00] So was it a want to use that specific land itself or was the idea there before the land was found?
Sarah Siburt: The idea was there, and then they went and looked for land in the area that we're in, but trying to find an area that was large enough that they could develop into a thriving farm.
Christa Hein: So, building something like this requires major financial investment, all kinds of long-term planning, and of course community support. So how was the organization able to move from that vision into actually opening and it becoming a reality?
Sarah Siburt: We had some very generous donors that initially got us started. And I would say we are still in progress, as probably most nonprofits will tell you, we are constantly in progress of building more and asking for those donations and people to support our work here. And so, we are still doing that.
But initially we had a wonderful family that [00:05:00] donated all the money and got us started. We have some plans for some phase two that is out of the actual nonprofit and hoping that the revenue from phase two can help sustain what we're doing in our nonprofit, so we're not completely reliant upon donors.
We hope to self-sustain eventually, but currently, we're still very new, so we do a lot of fundraising and making the community aware.
Christa Hein: So, you came into this in 2023 with over two decades in public education, which seems like a huge part of why the educational side could grow so quickly. So, before Timberview, what did your career in public education look like and what made you ready for something different?
Sarah Siburt: Well, it might surprise you a little bit to know that I was a fine arts teacher. I taught elementary music and middle school choir for 23 years. And part of my passion in public education was [00:06:00] providing the students with a place during the day where it was a little less pressure. They didn't have to worry so much about the grade. They weren't sitting in their seats being still and quiet. And we got to be creative, and we got to explore, and we were hands-on in the music classroom, and all of these things.
There's lots of studies that show how important those things are. And so this was really a natural transition for me because being outside and getting students outdoors, that was just an extension to me of what I was already doing in the music classroom.
And so that's why I love it here so much because I feel like it does still fit my educational āwhyā. I have loved being here this past three years. It's just been absolutely amazing.
Christa Hein: Do you have farming in your background or was that something that was new to you with the farm?
Sarah Siburt: That honestly was brand new, I can say. I mean, I played around in my grandparents' garden, and my cousins had [00:07:00] horses, and I grew up riding horses. But no, my cousin would probably laugh at me if she heard me say I had a farming background.
No, I was learning from scratch and thankfully there were people here that helped get that going that had done farming for a long time. And I studied really hard, and I learned from them, and I got my hands dirty, too. I've mucked stalls, have cleaned out poultry cages, and so I've done it all to try to learn and get to know as much as I can.
Christa Hein: Yeah. I think that's one of those misconceptions that people have about farm education. Thinking that everyone who works in it maybe came from that farming background. I didn't as well, I grew up in the suburbs. But that connection to the land that it sounds like you had, that instinct just is there. And, yeah, the experience kind of brings it out in you once you start realizing how teaching kids how impactful that is.
Sarah Siburt: Yes. And I can remember my mom, I mean, when we would come home from school, we were outside. And there was no coming [00:08:00] inside and watching television. We would stay outside until it was dark. And if we tried to come in, she'd say, āIs it dark outside?ā No ma'am. Okay, then we're back outside. So, that instilled in me the importance of playing outdoors and being outside. And I also remember we planted a watermelon patch next to our driveway one year. And that thing exploded of course and took over half the drive. But I thought that was just the most amazing thing ever.
And I do think it's important that students know where their food comes from. That students understand that farming is a business and animals have jobs. And if we take care of our animals and our land, then our animals and our land will give us good things. And your eggs for breakfast, they don't come from the grocery store. The grocery store has them. You can purchase them there, but that's not where they come from. And students these days, they don't get to see that, they don't get to experience that as much as we did growing up. And I think it's so important for them to understand [00:09:00] agriculture, to understand the world around them.
Christa Hein: Absolutely. So, when you first arrived at Timberview in 2023, what stage was the organization in at that point?
Sarah Siburt: So, what they brought me on to do was to start to build out the educational programming. What will it look like, let people know we're here. And so, we started to do a whole lot of just grassroots, sending out emails, making phone calls to school districts, letting them know that we are available and we would love to see their students. And teachers having education preview days out here and just dreaming with teachers, really, about what this place could be.
I would say that a lot of our educational programs, teachers in the area helped create through some of their ideas. And when they would come visit and they'd say, oh, it would be really good if you connected this to this that we teach. So, a lot of it was really a collaborative effort with our community and teachers in the area.
And thatās where we were when I first [00:10:00] started. I started in September and our grand opening was in March of 2024. And so, we spent September to March really just trying to build those programs out. And even little things like ordering signs for the property, and where does the bathroom sign go, and ordering toilet paper rolls. And so, it was really some of those operational things, too we were spending our time building out so that we could be ready for our students.
Christa Hein: Absolutely. Thereāre so many things when something first starts to think about.
Sarah Siburt: And getting our animals, of course, we had to do that as well. That was just a little important. So, building our animal, and starting to plant and get things ready in the greenhouse.
So, all those things just to be ready to open.
Christa Hein: So, once you started, were there any surprises in what teachers and administrators wanted, and then how did you address what they needed to feel comfortable bringing their kids to the farm?
Sarah Siburt: I think one of the things that was most surprising [00:11:00] to us is they would tell us when they would go other places, there's not a whole lot of hands on education. They could go and see, but they can't really get their hands on the animal or their hands in the dirt. And it was surprising to me how unique we were in that.
Because it seems to me, if you're going to take the time to leave campus, that's what you would want. But there's not very many farms around that will offer that. And we worked really hard to socialize our animals and get them prepared for our kids so that they could do that. Because that's what we kept hearing over and over from teachers is, please let us get our hands in there.Let us touch, let us dig in the dirt, let us plant the seed. Let us touch the animal's wool while you talk about the wool. And I think that was probably the most surprising is just how unique that was for our teachers and students.
Christa Hein: So, how important was it for them that you aligned the lessons with [00:12:00] Texas's educational standards?
Sarah Siburt: Very important. Very important. Our public schools here in Texas, it's called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. And if we do not follow the TEAKS, it's short for that, if we don't pull in our TEAKS into this education, the schools cannot come visit. And so that was one of the first things I did was really dug deep into some of those science standards and those math standards and what would really help teachers.
We really view our education here at Timberview like a living laboratory that is giving students some real world context to what they are learning in class and hopefully sparking some interest for some future agricultural interest in the student as well. And so, that's just an extension of what we do, but it was very important to hit those standards.
Christa Hein: So, I'm really interested in your educator preview days. Can you tell us about those? How did that idea come about and what actually happens during those visits?
Sarah Siburt: [00:13:00] So, that came about because the more we talked about Timberview and what we wanted to do, the more people will get confused when you just talk about it. The best way to understand what we do is to come and see it.
And so, to get educators to really understand what their students would be a part of. We tried to come up with a day where they could all come, and we had breakfast and pastries because you have to feed teachers. [Laughter] And they would come, and we would tell them a little bit about what we were about, and then we would take a tour of the farm. And we would walk around and meet our animals, and let the teachers go in the pens, and let the teachers put their hands on.
And we did that really just by sending out emails to every administrator and curriculum leader that we could, anywhere in a 30 mile radius, sometimes even further out. And let them know we are here, we would love for you to come, here's our educator preview date, and please RSVP. And the RSVPs just started rolling in. I think our [00:14:00] first educator preview day, we had almost 50 teachers out here.
And so, we did two of those. They were about six months apart. And our field trips took off so much that we have not had to have another one. Teachers just spread the word, and word of mouth, and now they're just signing up and we've got waiting lists.
But that's how we started out was just that grassroots. Y'all come see us!
Christa Hein: So, that is so unique. I've not heard of anybody doing that before. So, I want to ask a little bit more specifics. So, did you do that at the start of the school year? Like before school started? Was it on maybe some days off from school? When were those actually scheduled to meet those teachersā schedules?
Sarah Siburt: Sure. So, I knew our grand opening was March, and spring is a great time to visit the farm, of course. And so, for teachers, coming from an education background, I knew that they really do plan out at least a semester in advance, oftentimes a year in advance. So, I was a little [00:15:00] concerned at first because we were behind the eight ball a little bit because here it was September and I had started and we really weren't ready to bring anybody out here until about December, January.
But we made our educator preview day in December, right before teachers got out for the holiday break. So that week we invited them and we did it at a time when it was after school, and then we also had a time when it was in the morning and maybe they would get to come.
So, we had two different sessions that December, and that really got us through spring. And then at the end of the school year, right there at the end of the school year, that last week of school, we had another session for the next school year. And that one was even bigger. So. I just tried to go on the school calendar when I knew teachers could fit that in.
Christa Hein: That's great. So, tell us about the types of educational programs you have at the farm. What are the options?
Sarah Siburt: So, our biggest educational program right now is our field trips. And Tuesday through Friday [00:16:00] of every week, we have schools roll through here. We can take about 120 students at a time is what our staff can handle right now. So those happen every Tuesday through Friday during the school year.
We also have summer camps. We have a pretty robust summer camp program from June through the end of July. Those, we have about 20 kids per camp. We could probably go up in the future, but right now with our staff, that's really best for us.
We have afterschool programming. We have a great afterschool mentorship program with our local school district here, and they send us sixth graders after school once a week. We feed them dinner and we use the farm to teach some character skills, some leadership skills, some good citizenship. And those students actually will stay with us until they graduate high school. In some capacity they get to keep coming back to the farm. And in high school it's more of a volunteer work program, but in middle school, we're just doing a little bit [00:17:00] of afterschool recreational fun.
But those students get to stay with us until they graduate, and then hopefully maybe there would be a job for them in the future here, we can help them find how to get some college or career ready when they graduate high school. So, just supporting them through that time of their life. We've just finished our second year of that. So, we have our sixth and seventh graders, and next year we'll have sixth, seventh, and eighth. So, that program is continuing to build.
We have some open Saturdays throughout the year, and at those open Saturdays, that's for the community and for families in the area to come and visit the farm. But those are still very educational. We have demonstrations and classes throughout those days so that they're learning what they're seeing and touching. They're not just walking through and observing. So, I would put those still under our educational umbrella.
And we have volunteer opportunities, and that's currently what we have going on right now. We have lots of dreams for future educational things, but right now those are really our biggest programs.
Christa Hein: That's a lot. [00:18:00] So I want to move into what it really takes to run a new teaching farm at this scale. So, the farm has 155 acres, multiple barns, livestock gardens, greenhouse systems, and educational programming as you just told us about. But the land used to be a golf course, which is such a dramatic transformation.
What did the land look like when the project first began? How did that transformation happen?
Sarah Siburt: So, it happened slowly. We did it in stages a little bit at a time. And you can even still see now sometimes where our trees are grouped. If you know it's a golf course, it makes sense to why that group of trees is right there and that group of trees is over in that area. And, oh, that was probably not where you wanted to hit your golf ball when this was a golf course.
There was a big building here on property that belonged to the golf course that we took down. We were unable to use that, but it was really completely transformed. And then also looking [00:19:00] into our pasture area for our animals, what do we need to do grass wise and forage wise to get that ready for our animals and not a golf course? And there was lots of conversation there and had some experts in to talk about that. So, some of that is still ongoing and we're figuring all of that out.
The water. How does the water come in? How do we get what we need for our animals? Where does the water run off? What do we need to build with that? So that was really a lot of the initial building on this property is turning it from a golf course to a working farm. It was challenging, but we brought in some experts and talked to the people that we knew could really help us out with that.
Christa Hein: So, is there anything that you originally thought would be relatively simple, but it turned out to be far more complicated once the farm started becoming operational?
Sarah Siburt: I think the answer to that question would be yes. I think everything, of course. I mean, it's farming, it's agriculture, so there's always surprises. Getting our greenhouse up and running has been very [00:20:00] complicated. You're fighting pests or you're fighting this and that, and learning how the system works, and what works best with the system, and getting your pH levels right. I think pulling together our aquaponics greenhouse has been the most challenging.
And then you're also figuring out what breeds work best here, animal wise. Where do we order our hay and what's the best place to get our feed? All that stuff that you just trial and error and you are figuring out.
And then some of our community engagement, what's the best way to engage with our community? How do we let them know we even exist? And you're a nonprofit, so you don't have tons of money to spend on marketing and advertising, and it's not really what you're about anyway. But people still need to know you're here, so what's the best way to do that?
So, I think there's been a lot of surprises and lessons along the way in all of it.
Christa Hein: Right? Yeah. With even something like your farm camp that you're working on now, like, until that [00:21:00] started, you had to make those forms, the registration system, all of that, building something from the ground up. There are so many steps that you can't really think about until you're in the weeds of doing it.
Sarah Siburt: Exactly. All those little things, they matter and they take a lot of time. And when you're first starting out, you have a very small staff, a very skeleton staff, and you want to keep it that way because you're a nonprofit and you want to be responsible with people's donations.
And we take that very seriously. But it's a lot of work. You need some time behind a computer, but you also need, you have animals to care for. So, that balance has been quite a challenge.
Christa Hein: So, on the flip side of that, what's working really well right now that gives you confidence in the long-term model?
Sarah Siburt: Well, I think the success with our field trips, I don't want to say that's surprising, because we thought they would be great, but how quickly our field trips have taken off. And the feedback from those is working very well. [00:22:00] Those teachers love that hands-on curriculum and that hands-on instruction that ties to what they're trying to do in the classroom.
And it provides all kinds of students with the ability to learn here and to connect to the classroom. Your special education students, your gifted and talented students, your neurodivergent students, they can all really thrive here and find a place at the farm while they are here. And I think that is so helpful to the teachers to get them out of those four walls and let students experience education in the way that helps them retain what they're learning and in the best way for them.
And so, if you have a gifted and talented student that really doesn't need to just sit there in that chair and study the same thing over and over again, but they get to come here and expand that learning, oh, what would I do if I were in charge here at the farm and do some of those higher level thinking questions. And then you have your special education students who find a place that they belong, and we have accessible barns for them, [00:23:00] and they feel welcomed, and they can still do everything the other students are doing. You have your neurodivergent students that can go and have a break if they need to, or they can put their hands on something soft. All of those things, I think, have really taken off. And our field trips, that is our best thing we have going on right now.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, you mentioned the aquaponics. I definitely want to ask a little bit about your greenhouse because it's so unique. So, for listeners who might not be familiar with aquaponics, can you explain what your greenhouse system looks like and how it works?
Sarah Siburt: So, our greenhouse system, you take aquaculture, which is your fish, and then you take your hydroponics, which is growing your plants in water instead of soil, and it combines. And it becomes a closed circuit system where your water is circulating in a closed circuit system. It'll go from your fish to your plants, from your plants to your fish and back.
So, you're conserving [00:24:00] water, which is very important and important to us. And then your fish, and this is where all the science comes in, but the waste from your fish is pumped out. It's filtered through, and then that water goes back to the plants and they get the natural nutrients to help grow the plants. And then that water comes back to the fish after the plants have cleaned it as well.
That's a very quick explanation of aquaponics, but we have a wonderful facility. It's a really large facility. We have the capacity to grow 4,000 heads of lettuce a month.
Christa Hein: Oh my gosh.
Sarah Siburt: And. Yes, they're on rafts in these big troughs in our greenhouse. And they grow very quickly in aquaponics. And so, it's just an amazing thing to see. It's an amazing thing to experience and I know even in some schools there are science teachers that are trying to build smaller aquaponic systems to show their students. And then when they get to come here and see it actually in action, [00:25:00] it's incredibly impactful.
We've had everything from pre-K up to college students come through to see our aquaponic system. So, we are very proud of it and work hard to keep that going and keep all that wonderful local food growing here for people to see and taste and get to have.
Christa Hein: And so, then what do you do with what's produced? The lettuce? Do you sell that, donate it? And then same with the fish ,is that a food product then that you're distributing?
Sarah Siburt: Yes. Both. Our lettuce, our fish, herbs, anything we're growing we will either sell or give. So, we do very much believe that the community should have access to healthy food, that a healthy community starts with healthy food. So, we try really hard to give as much as we can away.
Our aquaponic produce is for sale. Weāll sell to some restaurants, and we're actually even this year starting to sell to some local school districts in the area so that our school children get to have local farm fresh [00:26:00] produce.
One of my favorite things to do when we have students out here is our taste testing. And when they come to the greenhouse and they get to taste what they're seeing growing right there in front of them, they actually like it. And then the chaperones, their mom and dads, are standing there with their mouths dropped. Like, I can't get her to eat lettuce at home at all, but because she got to see where it grows and how it grows, and she's very interested in that. She tasted that lettuce and she realized, oh, this is delicious. So, that's one of my favorite things.
But yes, we do, same with our fish. Same with any herbs or anything special that we're growing in the greenhouse.
Christa Hein: So, one of the themes I kept seeing throughout Timberview's work was this idea that the farm is about more than just agriculture. The phrase ālearn, grow, belongā shows up throughout your organization. How does that idea shape decisions behind the scenes?
Sarah Siburt: So, everything funnels through ālearn, grow, belongā, and our [00:27:00] mission of providing a hands-on educational experience for anybody who steps foot on the property. You're not just coming to observe a cute baby goat. You are learning what that baby goat means. Why is that baby goat important? Where did that goat come from? Why is it important to agriculture and the world and what we do? Every little thing, we try to make a connection.
We also try, once you come here and you've learned here at Timberview , we consider you part of our farm. And even like our camp program, our students, when they finish camp, they're what we call farm camp certified. And they get to come back throughout the entire year and volunteer at the farm and even extend their learning further by volunteering and getting in there with us and doing the farming with us. So, we really try to extend that.
We have family partnerships where a family can sign up a little bit, like a membership, but it's different because if you're a partner of our farm, you are considered a donor and a [00:28:00] helper and you are part of our mission. And so, you get to come behind the scenes and yes, you have some ways that we say thank you to you throughout the year, but you really are a part of the mission of education by becoming a partner of this farm.
And so, we very much believe in hospitality, and welcome, and that we are a place for all. And that this creation around us, everybody can enjoy. Everybody can be a part of and should be and should experience.
Christa Hein: Well, the hospitality that you just mentioned, that was going to be my next question because I saw this phrase on your website, āunreasonable hospitalityā. It really jumped out at me. So, what does that actually look like on the farm?
Sarah Siburt: So, that means that our doors are open, that we try to make things easy as pie for our guests. That you are not going to come here and be ignored. If you come to Timberview Farmstead, you become a part of this mission. And our staff is trained and our staff is extremely welcoming, [00:29:00] extremely giving, and we really want you to feel like you belong here.
And sometimes that might be unreasonable. Sometimes it's beyond our open and closed posted hours or your family needed something a little extra special, and we found a way to make that happen for you because we want you to feel like you're apart here.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, because Timberview's in such an early growth phase, it feels like you're simultaneously growing and operating the organization and still building this future vision at the same time. So, since Timberview operates through donations and partnerships, community support, can you share anything you've learned about fundraising specifically for farm education programs?
Sarah Siburt: Yes. Specifically for farm education programs, you need to get in there and be a part of your agricultural community. You need to be on committees. You need to join the agricultural groups in your area.
One of the things that we have here, the Fort Worth [00:30:00] Stock Show and Rodeo, it's pretty famous around here. And we actually had a contact with the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo and became their educational partner. So, every year, Timberview, we load up on trailers and we go to the stock show and we teach our curriculum to the students that come through the stock show. And we're making relationships and connections there to our agricultural community.
So, specifically, if you want funds in agriculture, you've got to make those connections with that community around you. Another thing I would say we've learned is it does take time. And we are still very much in the early phases of raising money and making those relationships as well. Because people want to give to things that they know, and things that they understand, and things that they feel like they have a relationship with. And we want that, too.
So, that has taken time and that's something that we've learned is do everything you can to build relationships with the people in your area, and get a part of all those committees, go to all those luncheons, [00:31:00] do all the things.
Christa Hein: That's such great advice. So, when you look ahead five or ten years, what do you hope Timberview Farmstead grows into?
Sarah Siburt: Oh, we have a lot of dreams for Timberview. But I think Timberview is a beautiful place for educational opportunity. And I think our educational programs could grow. I would love to see us grow into some certifications, some career exploration, and some workforce development. I think we could go to the next level there. I would love to see us doing that.
I'm really excited about partnering with some other nonprofit educational groups in our area, and seeing how we can partner with them and do more for our students. In this area, I think our school districts are doing really hard work and doing the best they can, but our school districts need support. They need community to help. And I would love to be that and to partner with other nonprofits. And what can we do for students in this area? So, so, so important. And so, I would [00:32:00] love to see those programs expand.
I would love to see our volunteer programs expand in the next five to ten years and to really get more volunteers out here helping us do this work. And I would love for the community, for when we say Timberview farmstead, for them to think that it is a beautiful place of welcoming, and a place that cares about our community, and cares about our land and our animals and the creation around us, and gives back to those of us in this community.
I would love it when you say Timberview farmstead for that to be what people think of.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, I always love to ask for advice. So, for listeners who are dreaming about building meaningful educational spaces of their own, what lessons from these early years would you want them to hear?
Sarah Siburt: I think I would say the number one lesson is listen. And be patient. It takes time. you're not going to change things in a year. You're not going to [00:33:00] be completely flourishing in a year. So be patient, it takes time.
And then listen to your community and listen to the people, the educators around you. Go and ask what is it you need? Because you may have a great idea, but that might not be what's needed. So, what is it you need? What can we do for you? What is missing in this community?
Talk to your city leaders. We have a really good relationship with the city here. And talk to your city leaders. What does this community really need? We've got 155 acres. That's a lot of space. What do you need from us? And listen and then try to build programs around what you hear. And then it takes time. So just be patient.
Christa Hein: Awesome. So, Sarah, before we go, where can people learn more about Timberview Farmstead or connect with you online to watch you grow?
Sarah Siburt: Yes, so you can go to our website. It's Timberviewfarmstead.com. And we have lots of information there on our website. We [00:34:00] also have social media, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. So please check out our social media. We would love for you to follow us on social. That's really the way we communicate all of our information is social media, so share that with your friends.
Let everybody know we're here. That's really what we need. We're still in that phase of letting folks know that we exist here and that we're trying to do some good work, and we would love for you to come alongside us.
If you have corporations that like to support educational nonprofits or educational things in your community, send me an email, Iād love to talk to you about that. Itās Sarah with an āhā at Timberviewfarmstead.com. That's my email. Or you can just email us at info@timberviewfarmstead.com and we'd love to talk with you further.
Christa Hein: Great. I love that this conversation gave us an inside look at what it really takes to build a teaching farm from the ground up. Not just the educational programming itself, which is huge all by itself, but also the vision, the [00:35:00] operational realities, and really the thinking behind it all. So, Sarah, thank you so much for sharing this behind the scenes reality of what it takes to build something like this.
Sarah Siburt: Thank you for having us. We really appreciate it.
Christa Hein: Absolutely. To our listeners, I hope this episode gave you a deeper look into how farm education centers can evolve when there's strong vision, thoughtful programming, and community support. Whether you're working on a tiny property or dreaming up something much larger like this, there's so much inspiration in hearing how these ideas are actually being put into practice.
As always, if you're enjoying the Farm Educatorās Roadmap podcast, I'd love for you to follow, leave a review, and share it with another farm educator or a dreamer who would enjoy it, too. Until next time, keep teaching, growing, and creating meaningful connections to the land.
Christa Hein: Hey farm educators, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Before you go, I've got something special for you. If [00:36:00] you're ready to build a farm education program that people are excited to book, grab my free guide, Five Simple Steps to Growing an In Demand Farm Education Program. It's packed with the same steps I used to grow my own farm education business.
It'll help you get noticed, attract clients, and make an impact. Just head over to www.farmeducatorsroadmap.com/fivesimplesteps to get your free copy. It's quick, easy, and will make your programs irresistible. I can't wait to see what you create. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you in the next episode.
