In 2002, the Pfeiffer Center began offering an innovative Environmental Education program called The Outdoor Lesson to children from our local public and private schools. Each school year, more than 500 children experience a wide array of gardening activities, with particular emphasis on our agricultural heritage, the origins and contents of the foods we eat, and the connections between human labor and the food on our table.

Lessons take place at Duryea Farm of the Fellowship Community; in the garden of the Pfeiffer Center; and at the Jessup Center, our newly renovated interpretive facility. Housed in a 19th-century barn built by the Duryea family, the Jessup Center is a living museum of our local rural heritage. Its “please touch” collection of antique farm tools lets children experience first hand how we lived when Rockland County was home to hundreds of farms.

Experience the Four Seasons with All Five Senses

The goal of the Outdoor Lesson is to immerse your students in all four seasons by engaging them in season- and age-appropriate activities and tasks that are designed to complement school curricula. The lessons are productive and meaningful, and our "classrooms" – field and barn, forest path and greenhouse – are the setting for vibrant, memorable experiences. Observation of the natural world and humankind's working partnership with nature is the cornerstone of the Outdoor Lesson.

Depending on the season, on a typical visit children might

• Visit the Jessup Center, and work with nineteenth-century farm tools
• Use hand tools to press fresh cider and churn butter
• Chop firewood
• Feed and groom Duryea Farm's cows and sheep
• Explore pond and forest ecosystems while learning local geography and Indian lore
• Feed chickens meal made from corn that we husk and grind by hand
• Sow, transplant and harvest vegetable crops in the greenhouse or in the fields
• Tap sugar maple trees and see maple sap transformed into maple syrup
• Work with wool, carding, spinning and felting
• Observe our honeybees at work

. . . among many other farm and garden activities.

Carol Avery, Environmental Educator

Carol Avery considers herself a lifelong environmentalist and educator. Her mother was a Rutgers University Master Gardener and a grade-school teacher, and both her parents were organic gardeners and beekeepers. A food activist and advocate for children, Carol led a campaign for “Better Food for Schools” in her local community.

Carol earned her undergraduate degree in Art and Literature from the American University in Paris, where she lived for twelve years. She has a master’s degree from New York University’s School of Education, and she is pursuing Waldorf teacher training at Sunbridge College. She completed the Pfeiffer Center’s One-Year Part-Time Training in Biodynamics several years ago. Carol continues to spend part of each summer on her family’s farm in Ireland, where she has worked since her teenage years. She has dedicated her life to educating children and adults about the environment, farming, gardening and food.

We invite your school or youth group to experience the Outdoor Lesson. To find out how, please follow this link.