Dear Friend,
As 2011 draws to a close, we can look back at a year of growth: new workshops, new public events, new outreach. The One-Year Part-Time Training in Biodynamics that started in September is fully enrolled, and we’re already taking applications for next year’s course.
In the office, the current One-Year Training is known as “YL15,” signifying the fifteenth running of our cornerstone educational program. When an institution reaches fifteen years of age, it’s no longer a child. The Pfeiffer Center has attained an age where it’s appropriate to plan our future. Our mission is to help bring biodynamics into the world. What tasks should we take on to serve our mission? To answer this question, we — Mac Mead, Megan Durney, Carol Avery, Ray Manaças, Mimi Satriano, Carol Rosenberg, and Bill Day — began a process of evaluation and envisioning.
Working thoughtfully and methodically—much as we would prepare a bed in the garden—we examined five areas:
- Physical Facilities
- Research
- Adult Programs
- Children’s Programs
- Food Security and Production
The process is still underway, but the direction of the Pfeiffer Center for its next fifteen years is emerging strongly. Coincidentally, in the midst of this process we received a generous gift that the donor directed to an area we had already chosen for development, affirming that our aspirations are in line with the needs of the world.
Here, briefly, are the results of our envisioning process so far:
Improving and expanding physical facilities
Projects in this category range from fencing and irrigation for Crown Field, to a new greenhouse in the Pfeiffer Center Garden, to a complete renovation of the Red Barn. The fencing, irrigation and greenhouse would support increased production, which is central to our aspirations for research, for adult education, and for children’s programs. A renovated Red Barn could give the Pfeiffer Center permanent classroom, office, and laboratory spaces.
New initiatives in research
The Pfeiffer Center’s mission calls us to contribute to research in our field. One possibility is to create a Visiting Researcher position, creating time and space for leading practitioners to investigate important questions about biodynamic theory and practice. Another possibility: the papers, ephemera, and publications of biodynamic pioneer Ehrenfried Pfeiffer urgently need to be collected and catalogued. Finally, burning questions about how the biodynamic preparations are made and used could be investigated in our garden, making research an integral part of the Pfeiffer Center internship experience.
Expanding adult education
More and more young and aspiring farmers are attending our workshops and applying for the One-Year Training. A scholarship fund would help make our offerings accessible to everyone. Courses and workshops get the spotlight, but the cornerstone of the Pfeiffer Center’s adult education is internships. Our interns commit to working more than full time for twelve months with no pay, yet many ask to stay on to continue their training. This year we received a gift of $30,000 to support expanded programming — specifically, to help fund second- and third-year advanced internships. This one-time gift is timely support in a critical area, and it presents us with the new challenge of making these internship positions sustainable.
Bringing nature and agriculture to children
The Pfeiffer Center’s children’s programming continues to thrive and evolve, providing meaningful gardening and nature experiences through Neighbor to Neighbor, Green Meadow Waldorf School, Farm and Garden Days, and Nature Place Day Camp. Sadly, budget cuts at our local public school district caused the end of its contract with the Outdoor Lesson, after ten successful years and over the objections of teachers and administrators; we are seeking new relationships for the program, and are committed to building it into a model farm-to-school initiative.
Creating a model for food security
Growing biodynamic produce has always been central to the Pfeiffer Center’s work and the internship experience. Our fields and gardens are classrooms for our interns and students. Under Mac Mead, gardening has evolved into an investigation of how to create the farm individuality in a suburban setting, and growing interest in food security is leading us toward modeling productive small-scale agriculture that can feed communities such as ours. The Pfeiffer Center is blessed with access to land, but buildings, tools, and skilled gardeners are still needed.
As you no doubt noticed, every idea mentioned here costs money. As we set priorities and define projects, you can expect to hear from us. We will need your help to achieve our goals.
For now, please take a minute to include the Pfeiffer Center in your end-of-year giving. Course and workshop fees cover less than half of the Pfeiffer Center’s operating expenses. Your donation—whether of $10 or $10,000—directly supports Pfeiffer Center programs. It also expresses your support of our work.
Our generous and faithful individual donors enable us to grow and evolve in our continuing efforts to help bring biodynamics to life in a world that needs a healing relationship with nature, with food, and with the cosmos.
The Pfeiffer Center is a project of the Threefold Educational Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.