We partnered with the Farmstead School in January 2026 to grow our project from a collective into an intergenerational school of agroecology. We will use educational programming to slowly develop this 5-acre property into a diverse, full-diet ecosystem, expanding many of the systems we honed at the Niwot Homestead.
The Farmstead School is accepting middle school students for the 2026-27 academic year! Please email us (niwothomestead@gmail.com) if you are interested and we will arrange an interview with the lead teacher.
Programs
Summer 2026 “Vegetable Mondays”
Join us from June 8th-August 10th for a casual, drop-in morning in the vegetable garden. Come help us do some weeding and light maintenance and take home some veggies. There will usually be at least 3 different seasonal veggies available to take home.
- Location: 8137 Oxford Rd, Niwot
- Time: Mondays 8:30-11am (come as you can)
- Families & children welcome
Please sign up here before the first time you come out. Otherwise, there is no registration necessary, this is a casual, drop-in activity.
Farm Based Middle School Program
In partnership with Mountain Shadows Montessori, this full-time middle school program is open to 10 students ranging from 6th-8th grade. We will work closely with the lead teacher, Amanda Norton, to integrate farm education into a traditional middle school curriculum. School Website & Info Here.
Students will have the opportunity to:
- Desing, implement, and tend diverse farm systems, including the vegetable garden, orchard, staple crop fields, pasture, and medicinal herbs, and also work with livestock including dairy goats, pigs, chickens, and ducks
- Participate in weekly agricultural classes that teach soil science, plant ecology, livestock husbandry, water management, etc… in a real life setting
- Take a lead on daily farm chores to learn responsibility, observation, and livestock husbandry skills
- Learn math, science, and other traditional subjects in a real-life setting, complemented by classroom time
- Participate in student-directed projects and experiments
- Take home weekly food shares and learn basic cooking and food preservation
- Run a farm micro-business to fundraise for trips and build basic business skills
The Farmstead School is accepting students for the 2026-27 academic year! Please email us (niwothomestead@gmail.com) if you are interested and we will arrange an interview with the lead teacher.
Adult Classes
We will use the Farmstead School as the home base for adult classes catered to aspiring land stewards. This site will give us the chance to provide real-life, hands-on education in the design and install of systems like vegetable gardens, rain gardens, contour swales, forest gardens, grazing systems, compost strategies, etc… Please see our Courses tab for more information.
High School Permaculture Design Course
Stay tuned for our 2027 High School Permaculture Design Course. This program will combine PINA’s permaculture design curriculum with immersive, hands-on experience running a diverse permaculture farm during the summer months. High schoolers will take home a food share each week and gain a certification valuable for college applications and future jobs in agriculture, environmental science, landscape architecture, and many related fields.
