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Three Guys and a Dream—The F.A.R.M. Institute
Story & Photos By Kate Feiffer
Used with Permission
 Herein
lies a story of three guys and a dream. The dream is filled with
animals - cows, goats, horses and sheep. Large fields and small
children also play heavily in the dream. The children count sheep,
not to lull them peacefully into dreams of their own, but to tally
and shear the sheep on a working farm.
John Curelli, or guy number one, served as director of Cardiopulmonary
Department at MV Hospital for 25 years. But behind the tie lurked
a man destined for overalls and a pitchfork. A former member of
the school committee and father of two, John says, “one of
the things I always wanted to see happen was kids get involved with
farming and agriculture on the Island.”
Sam Feldman is guy number two. Locally, he is better known for
his crusade against mopeds than as a farm advocate. But good dreamers,
like Sam, often double dream. A lifelong conservationist and entrepreneur,
a dream that entailed kids and farming lay dormant for years while
work and family took precedence.
Guy number three is Glenn Hearn, a fixture at the farmer’s
market and Agricultural Society trustee. Glenn has earned a reputation
for helping turn agricultural related dreams into realities. He
was instrumental in planning the new Agricultural Hall community
barn raising and started an aquaculture program at the high school.
There is a fourth guy, call him a dream consultant. Twelve years
ago Mike Kidder started Stonewall Farm, a working farm and educational
center in Keene, New Hampshire. Mike has lived on the Vineyard for
seven years and brought his expertise to the table.
According to John Curelli, now Executive Director of The F.A.R.M.
Institute, it started like this:
 “Glenn
Hearn and I were at the Ag. Fair in 1999 and this guy walked up
to us and said, ‘I heard you were interested in doing a farm
school.’ He thought it was a great idea and wanted to get
together. He turned out to be Sam Feldman. Then Woody Filley, a
teacher at the high school who lives in Chappy called me up and
said, ‘John, you’re not going to believe this but someone
who started a Farm School up in New Hampshire just moved here.’
That person was Mike Kidder.”
Six months later, on a raw winter day, the three dreamers and the
dream consultant gathered for a meeting at the High School and hashed
out a plan. “We shared our visions, and our dreams and hopes,
and it was amazing how we clicked,” recalls Sam. One rocky
road of a real estate transaction later, eye-catching Belted Galloway
cattle graze on the sweet, salt dusted, Katama grass. The F.A.R.M.
Institute is no longer just the stuff of dreams.
On Wednesday morning, nine-year-old Larissa Cacique’s mother
drops her off at The F.A.R.M. Institute. Earlier that morning a
lamb inexplicably died. Larissa’s mother grants permission
for her daughter to observe the autopsy.
 Three
days into a weeklong summer camp session at the F.A.R.M. Institute,
the nine kids attending are comfortable enough to form educated
opinions. They know that the lamb that passed was a pure bred Navajo-Churro,
a rare breed and one of three breeds of sheep on the farm. They’ve
learned that if sheep are clustered in a tight pack, they feel threatened.
They’ve also learned why the tails are removed. In fact, they’ve
assisted in docking a tail. This morning, they watch with fascination
the anatomization of a lamb.
“The lambs were all jumping around. I don’t know why
it died. It might have been gas,” speculates Larissa, who
later admits she was kind of “grossed out” by the autopsy.
The autopsy report later reveals the lamb died from dehydration.
“The lamb’s death is a part of farming,” says
John Curelli. “And as a result the kids are learning about
anatomy and science. Not only are we teaching about farming, it’s
a whole different paradigm in teaching and learning.”
It’s also fun. In the past three days, 10-year old Anna Hayes
of Edgartown rode a horse, sat on a cow - named “Rarest’
- chased and caught chickens - “They are so cute and hard
to catch,” she says - gardened, dyed yarn and fenced in fields.
Anna and the other campers split their time between working with
the animals and gardening. They arrive at 9AM and leave at 3PM.
During lunch and snack times, conversation turns, appropriately,
to talk of gerbils at home and the sheep on the farm.
“It’s really fun here. I don’t want to leave,”
says Anna.
The program’s success is in no small part do to the efforts
of Farm Manager Becky Brown, and teacher/farmers Jen Bennett and
Cleo Wild. The trio share an expertise and passion for farming and
a dedication and belief in sustainable agriculture. “We don’t
play,” says Becky, “Things need to get done. The kids
learn by doing. It’s confidence building and educational.”
The 23 year-old’s irrepressible energy and smile set a tone
for the camp. She works hard and the kids, in turn, follow her lead
- often smiling.
 From
fencing to fertilizer, the farm is completely organic. “It’s
a whole cycle on this farm. We keep the nutrients here. The cows
eat the grass. Their manure fertilizes it,” explains Jen.
A mother of two and author of a unpublished work exploring the ecology
of the Island with kids, she says, “I think it’s important
for kids to know where they come from and to get back to their agrarian
roots.” Fresh from completing a BA in Ecological Education,
she refers to herself as “the gardener” and admits the
kids are more drawn to the animals than the fields. Nevertheless,
with the assistance of the young farmers, organic crops of lettuce,
beans, carrots, turnips onions, tomatoes, cooking herbs, and even
medicinal herbs are thriving. (On Friday afternoons, following the
last day of each camp session, parents are invited to join their
kids at a picnic of fresh F.A.R.M. Institute produce.)
Cleo Wild, the third teacher/farmer, brings experience working with
children to the job. On break from college, Cleo is, herself, a
natural educator.
 The children attending are not urban children plucked out of the
city and deposited on a grassy field. They are, for the most part,
Vineyard kids, and they come to learn about the land, their land.
“We’re probably not going to make a lot of farmers out
of these kids,” admits John Curelli, “But as they become
older, they’re going to become voters and policy setters.
And when it becomes time to permit 30 trophy houses versus six houses
and a pasture, they’ll remember their experience on this farm.”
The experience also allows the children to learn about their heritage
as Islanders, when culinary sacrifices once meant more than going
without a Big Mac. “It wasn’t too many years ago that
we didn’t have boats every hour, or even every day or every
month, and people had to grow their own food,” says John.
“This isn’t passive conservation. This is active conservation
that has a long lasting effect,” adds Sam Feldman.
The skirmishes regarding the fate of Edgartown’s Herring Creek
Farm started more than a decade ago. Local furor greeted the initial
proposal to transform a 215-acre cattle farm, owned by Neil and
Monte Wallace, into buildable lots for 54 houses. Former MV Commission
member Leonard Jason Jr. reportedly complained, “It’s
another farm that’s getting whacked up into little pieces.
The great Pond is there, the farmland is going to be gone - that’s
not my idea of Martha’s Vineyard.”
 Lawsuits
later, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission passed a revised plan
for a 33-lot subdivision for houses. Meanwhile a small conglomerate,
including late-night talk show host David Letterman, The Nature
Conservancy, the three dreamers plus a business plan, arranged to
purchase the land for $64 million to establish the F.A.R.M Institute
and eight priceless house lots. To complete the transaction, a quick
succession of sales rock practitioners of leisurely “Vineyard
time” into a New York frenzy. While nervous neighbors still
needed mollification, in the end the parties involved toasted the
completion of this highly complex landmark deal.
“It was a long process, but certainly the results are truly
remarkable,” admits John Curelli.
“We were an unknown entity,” explains Sam Feldman. “I
always understood the skepticism, and I thought it was remarkably
courageous of the landowners to have accepted us since we were totally
unproven.”
 The
F.A.R.M. Institute now holds a 99-year lease on 40 acres of land
with a one million-dollar mortgage on an additional seven acres,
a barn, several buildings and a silo. Limitations on the use of
the property include a cap on the number of children who attend
each session. Modest limitations aside, the program is active year-round
and open to every child in the community. Last year, an after school
program started up as soon as the first cows arrived. “No
matter how cold or hot it is, the kids are always smiling and enjoying
and asking questions and discovering new stuff,” says John.
This coming fall, the after school program resumes in late September.
Future plans also include converting the second floor hay loft in
the main barn into classroom space for kids to hang out, read, do
art projects, and make music
As the first summer at The F.A.R.M. Institute comes to a close,
all those involved will no doubt, take stock of their successes.
And if one dreamer has something to say about it - “Our success
is measured from what the kids think about it and from that barometer,
it’s a spectacular success.”
Kate Feiffer is a writer and documentary filmmaker
living on Martha’s Vineyard
The FARM Institute - Post Office Box 1868 - Edgartown,
MA 02539 - (508) 627-7007 |
