stratford vernal pool presentation 2 09

Stratford Ecological Center - 236 acres of farm and forest

Stratford Ecological Center’s Mission Statement

“Stratford Ecological Center is a non-profit organization

dedicated to the education of children and adults in

understanding the relationship between living things and their environment, thereby fostering an appreciation of the land and

all life that depends on it.”

Stratford’s History• Dr.s Jack and Louise Warner, inspired by their daughter

Gale, had a vision to create an environmental education center and farm on Louise’s father’s land in Delaware.

• Groundbreaking was in the fall of 1991 and Stratford Ecological Center became a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization.

Barn raising, Late Summer

1992

The Animal Barn

The Children’s Garden

The Greenhouse

The Nature Preserve

Programs at the Stratford Ecological Center

• Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Farm• Environmental Education for Schools, Scouts,

Homeschoolers, etc. • Adult Education• Festivals• Farm Products for Sale• Food Bank Donations• Internships • Volunteer Opportunities• Community Gardens

Harvest Festival 2003

Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Farm

The Stratford Ecological Center is

Certified Organic

Farm Products For Sale

• Honey• Maple Syrup• Pick-your-own vegetables• Pick-your-own berries• Eggs• Meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken)• Garden transplants

Stratford’s excess produce is donated to the People in Need food

bank for distribution to Delaware County residents

Environmental Education

• Farm and Field Trips• Summer Day Camps• Adult Education• Sustainable Agriculture Internships• Environmental Education Internships• Specialized Programs

•Experiential, appreciation-based, hands-on learning

“We don’t need farms anymore because we have supermarkets

now.”

- a 4th grade visitor to Stratford

Farm and Field Trips

In-school pre-visit presentation

“If I had influence with the good fairy…I

should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of

wonder so indestructible that it

would last throughout life…”

from Rachel Carson’s

The Sense of Wonder

Stratford Summer Camps

Adult Education

Kombucha tea classSpinning demonstrations and classes

Swamp study

Farm tours and farmer education

Beekeeping class

Wildflower Walk

The Work that Reconnects

The first Canning Circle in 2000

Harvest Fair

Maple Sugar Festival

Annual Events

Kids enjoying Stratford’s Harvest Fair

Internshipsin

Sustainable Agriculture

and Environmental

Education

Internships offer practical farming experience to prospective farmers.

Volunteers are essential to Stratford’s programs

Stratford’s Pond and Prairie

Learn as you teach, Relax as you weed,

Meditate as you milk.Enlighten, Immerse,

Experience,Love, Laugh, Play,

Breathe, Dream, Create.

We invite you to share yourself with children, plants, animals, and the family that is

Stratford.