Stratford Ecological Center Vernal Pool presentation on 2-21-09

1. Stratford Ecological Center - 236 acres of farm and forest

2. 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.”

3. 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

5. The Animal Barn

7. The Children’s Garden

9. The Greenhouse

10. The Nature
Preserve

11. 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 Harvest Festival 2003
• Community Gardens

12. Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Farm

13. The Stratford
Ecological
Center is
Certified Organic

14. Farm Products
For Sale
• Honey
• Maple Syrup
• Pick-your-own vegetables
• Pick-your-own berries
• Eggs
• Meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken)
• Garden transplants

16. Stratford’s excess produce is
donated to the People in Need food
bank for distribution to Delaware
County residents

17. Environmental Education
•Experiential, appreciation-
based, hands-on learning
• Farm and Field Trips
• Summer Day Camps
• Adult Education
• Sustainable Agriculture Internships
• Environmental Education Internships
• Specialized Programs

18. “We don’t need farms
anymore because we
have supermarkets
now.”
- a 4th grade visitor to Stratford

19. Farm and
Field Trips
In-school pre-visit presentation

21. “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

22. Stratford
Summer
Camps

25. Farm tours and farmer education
Swamp study
Adult Education
Kombucha tea class
Spinning demonstrations and classes

26. Beekeeping
class
The Work that
Reconnects
Wildflower
Walk

27. The first Canning Circle in 2000

28. Annual Harvest Fair
Events
Maple Sugar Festival

29. Kids enjoying Stratford’s Harvest Fair

30. Internshi
ps
in
Sustainable
Agriculture
and
Environmental
Education

31. Internships offer practical farming
experience to prospective farmers.

34. Volunteers are essential to Stratford’s programs

35. Stratford’s Pond and Prairie

37. 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.