North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program > Mentor Farmer Gatherings
Since its inception in 2009, the North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program has organized an annual gathering for NABDAP mentor farmers. Each gathering offers information and inspiration to help mentors in their professional development, as well as opportunities to connect and share with other mentor farmers in the program.
In 2009 and 2010, gatherings took place at Hawthorne Valley Farm in New York. In 2011, mentors met in California at Rudolf Steiner College. And in 2012, we hosted spring regional gatherings in Ontario and the Northwest, as well as a central gathering in the fall at Angelic Organics Farm and Learning Center in Illinois.
2012 Mentor Farmer Gatherings
- Spring Regional Gathering - Ontario: On March 31st, mentors met in Durham, ON in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Biodynamic Society. The gathering featured a presentation of the New Adult Learning concept in adult education by Arlene Thorne, who also led everyone in some role playing exercises helping us to share what we know about Biodynamics with others.
- Spring Regional Gathering - Northwest: Mentors traveled from British Columbia, Oregon and Washington for a day-long gathering on April 1st at Jubilee Farm in Carnation, WA. The meeting included a listening session, questions and answers about NABDAP, collective preparation of a local meal, sharing of successes and challenges with apprentices and apprenticeship program structures, discussion of the fall gathering at the conference, and planning for farm visits and classroom study in the region.
- Fall Central Gathering - Midwest: On November 14, 2012, NABDAP hosted a gathering of 30 mentor farmers from across the United States and Canada at Angelic Organics Farm and Learning Center in Caledonia, IL. The gathering took place just before the North American Biodynamic Conference, and was concurrent with two pre-conference workshops at Angelic Organics. The day featured two sessions with Craig Holdrege of The Nature Institute, a tour of the farm, collective story harvest about working with apprentices, and small group discussions exploring how we can support each other as mentor farmers.
2011 Mentor Farmer Gathering
2010 Mentor Farmer Gathering
- Agenda and Proceedings
2009 Mentor Farmer Gathering
- Agenda and Proceedings