Meet Our New Education Programs Manager!

Meredith joined our team earlier this month as the new Education Programs Manager. She comes to us with extensive experience in farm-based and outdoor education and agriculture.

Before receiving a Master’s in Education and a certificate in Education for the Environment and Community in Seattle, she was the assistant manager of education programming and directed summer camp at Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center in Washington state. She also has several years of farming experience; her first introduction to agriculture was just after graduating from UVM while she was serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Burlington and a friend convinced her to help him harvest at his farm at the Intervale Center. Rather than choosing one or the other, she has been seeking out a thread that links working with the environment and educating young people.

Meredith is originally from the New Hampshire seacoast area. After spending a number of years out west, she decided to return to New England, where the landscape “feels like a big hug,” as she puts it.

She’s curious by nature and considers herself a lifelong learner. This, and the fact that she personally learns best through hands-on experiences, inspired her to become an educator. She gets to live vicariously through the students as they connect to nature, something that she didn’t begin to experience until later in life.

These moments are her favorite. A specific one she describes involves worms. “Everyone gets something different out of a lesson about worms,” she says, “some children will connect empathically, others are curious about their homes… it’s really fun to see how they connect to the lesson material as they explore and investigate their environment.”

Meredith is passionate about raising young stewards, and you’ll find that it’s an underlying theme in all of her programs. She defines stewardship as taking care of ourselves, of the land, and of others.

She’s looking forward to jumping in and working with the kids right away – helping toddlers explore nature, teaching homeschoolers about nutrition, and farm to table cooking with middle schoolers – and developing other education programs.

Our Executive Director, Eric Tadlock, is confident that “our visitors, the little farmers, campers, and students will appreciate Meredith’s kind nature and her passion for food and agriculture.” He adds, “She has already begun to contribute her education and experience to the 2019 planning process and we’re all excited to support her as she rolls out the season of education at Cedar Circle Farm.”

We can’t wait for you to meet her!