Winter Greetings from Farm & Wilderness 2015!
The Green Mountains (now white) are glistening as the thermometers are dipping. Grub (pig), Daphne (goat), and Rhubarb (cow) are keeping warm in the barn, while outside on Woodward Reservoir ice fishermen brave the cold. I went snowshoeing for the first time on Mount Peg in nearby Woodstock, and hope to learn cross-country skiing soon. Our year-round staff have taken some much deserved time off and traveled from Arizona to Australia.
Though the sound of campers’ laughter and activities are but shadows on our properties, the year-round staff continues to run the farm, maintain vehicles, structures, and grounds. We’re also doing our budgets, evaluating and developing programming, enrolling campers, and thanking donors for their generosity, as well as connecting with families, staff, alumni and prospective F&W community members. Some of us are doing seven-minute workouts when the spirit moves us, and sharing an occasional potluck meal together as we solidify our interconnectedness as an organization and community.
We’re well into our enrollment season and some camps/sessions already full or filling fast! Our ongoing goal is to grow our F&W community and we’re doing this work with purpose. Our greatest strength is word-of-mouth marketing and outreach by our parents, campers and staff. Meanwhile, as camp directors are out promoting F&W to new and returning families, I want to highlight some of the work we’re doing in Plymouth.
We strengthen our community in many ways. This past January at our annual celebration dinner in Boston, our theme was Wilderness at Farm & Wilderness. This is one aspect of programming we are reviewing to provide the best possible experience and resources for campers and staff. During the summer we will enlist camper thoughts and during family drop-off receptions, when you’ll have a chance to tell your wilderness stories, post your reflection on our Facebook page, or send a note/email to me directly. Your remembrances are powerful reminders of the impact Farm & Wilderness holds beyond the summer, and will help us improve on our programming.
We support our community by refining and growing our work on inclusivity and equity. We have a board committee (I&E) and representative staff committee (Culture Team) that ensure we are building a community at F&W that welcomes, educates and supports all people.
As an organization, F&W tries to cultivate a culture of affirmation of all people. We strive annually to recruit 25% campers and staff of color through increased outreach, participation in diversity job fairs, and by affiliation and advertising with organizations that reach families of color. We provide summer staff with affinity groups (QUILTBAG for GLBTQ, both white and staff of color groups, and Open Culture for cross-cultural conversations). We continue to support gender identity instead of focusing on biology by working to be more inclusive of the variation of genders. To broaden our lens, F&W continues working with We All Belong South, a Vermont regional group of outdoor education-related groups seeking organizational change for cultural competency.
We are grateful that so many people from all walks of life are willing to support our Annual Fund. The generous outpouring of gifts we’ve received enables us to increase the number of campers who receive campership aid, providing more socio-economic diversity. I encourage and ask your support toward these efforts, whether you are a parent, staff or alumni.
Looking ahead, we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Flying Cloud all summer and will host an alumni reunion over Labor Day weekend. We will build on the success of how we marked our momentous 75th milestone with merriment and memories.
As we attempt to extend the F&W experience to more families, we would appreciate your help. Word of mouth marketing is our most effective form of building an amazing community here. Please help us by spreading the word with families and friends who have similar values. Be honest with prospective families and staff about who we are and what we represent. The phrase “work is love made visible” means that F&W campers and staff will work hard, test their limits, learn to take risks, discover themselves, and be the best version of themselves.
We’ve an exciting year ahead, full of hope and promise. I am truly grateful for the warm reception and support I’ve received since my arrival last May. I look forward to meeting you on the journey (should our paths cross), hearing your stories, sharing the work we’re doing, and further understanding what historically makes Farm & Wilderness such a magical, special place!
Rebecca Geary
F&W Executive Director