“I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again” – Frodo

Every great fellowship has a “there and back again” beginning and ending place from which their adventure begins. An inviting and welcoming home that bonds members around a common purpose. It also is a meeting place that continually reminds and inspires each member to never give up or quit on each other, or on our purpose, once the shared journey begins. ‘The Shire’ School Farm is meant to be that place for our Growing A Future Fellowship. A place to learn and grow together as we strive to see a school farm become an integral part of every school district.

Having and operating a successful ‘The Shire’ school farm will provide a shared virtual meeting place for other school farm fellowship members to share ideas, successes, and failures. It will also provide a working example of a K-12 school farm educational platform that will inspire and empower others to join our fellowship and create a school farm for their community.

“It’s like the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered.” Sam

With the physical farm in place, our goal is to continue to build and fine tune the endless teaching and learning opportunities provided through it. These ‘wanderings’ will also include what is learned and shared by other school farm fellowship operations. Ultimately, our goal is to develop inspiring and engaging school farm related K-12 curriculum (stories) that can be shared with other fellowship members and their students.

“May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” — Galadriel

Although the above journey will involve and include many other school farms and fellowship members, we felt the fellowship needed a starting point for this adventure. A place that we can always look back upon with fond memories as a place of safety and comfort.