Manhattan Country School Farm

The Manhattan Country School Farm is the rural campus of an independent, racially and economically diverse NYC elementary and middle school.   With its roots in progressive education and the activism of the Civil Rights Movement, the Manhattan Country School has just celebrated its 45th anniverary of offering a curriculum steeped in social justice and focused on sustainability.  Since the founding of the school in 1966 MCS Farm in Roxbury has engaged students in a hands-on curriculum to raise their own food and fiber, and to understand mutual effects of the natural processes on the farm and in the surrounding environment.  From ages 8 to 14, MCS students spend increasing longer times at the Farm in all seasons as a regular part of their school year, graduating with skills in gardening, animal husbandry, textiles, and renewable energy, and with exeperiences in the woods and fields of the Catskill Mountain region that inform their analysis of current environmental issues.

While MCS Farm is intended primarily for students of the Manhattan Country School, it also hosts classes from other schools and welcomes day visits by a limited number of local school groups.  The Farm is staffed by five full-time faculty, two part-time faculty (one of which is the Farm-Based Education Intern) and several part-time workers.  In 2011 MCS Farm received the Alf Evers Award for Sustainability from the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development for our sustainability curriculum and for installing a 24,000 watt solar array to provide our electricity. 

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