Teacher's year of growth starts at Genesis Farm in Blairstown

Last year, Voorhees High School Social Studies teacher Chris Wyglendowski couldn’t be found in the halls of the high school or in the classroom.

Instead, he spent the majority of the 2010-11 school year traveling the country in an RV (his temporary home), learning about environmental sustainability as both a student and a teacher. This unique opportunity was included in Wyglendowski’s teaching contract — Wyglendowski was on sabbatical.

Before he hit the road, though, he spent some time at Genesis Farm in Blairstown — the site that organized his individualized studies that led to his graduate certificate in earth literacy.

Wyglendowski’s program, which began in the summer of 2010 at the farm, had two components: a big organic community-supported garden and an ecological learning center that works in conjunction with universities and schools. He described it as “essentially an interdisciplinary program with a focus on environmental sustainability” that was particularly focused on “how to make positive change” in the area of sustainability.

Sponsored by the Sisters of St. Dominic in Caldwell, Genesis Farm sits on 231 acres of preserved farmland and open space, according to its website, genesisfarm.org. “In trying to become more Earth-enhancing in our patterns of living, we offer hospitality and shared learning experiences through a variety of residential and non-residential programs, courses, hands-on workshops, and film and lecture series,” the site reads. The farm is funded by a combination of donors and grants.

Director of the farm Miriam MacGillis discussed the farm’s role within the community.

“We’re very quiet, but people have heard about us from all over the world and it’s because we offer these programs, some of them accredited, where people can ask questions about what’s going on with the crises of the planet. ‘Why are we in such trouble? Why is the air and soil and food so full of toxic substances? How could this happen? Why did this happen?’ These are questions that a lot of people are concerned about. There aren’t a lot of places to go where people are asking those questions and taking it very seriously,” she said.

Wyglendowksi was asking himself similar questions when he came to Genesis Farm and was pleased to see that the people at the farm were leading by example. “They are living what they’re trying to share with people, part of the learning is just being there,” he said.

The spirit of the farm was most valuable for his own learning experience, Wyglendowski said. “They’re trying to take a very real and overwhelming problem of environmental crisis and they are helping other people develop very practical, do-able local responses to what could otherwise be overwhelming.”

Some examples of programs might include a workshop on solar energy or healing plants found in the wilderness.

Wyglendwoski said he was impressed with the farm and its relationship with the land and the community, noting some projects like the refurbishing of old buildings with reclaimed materials.

In fact, it was the culture of the farm, which he witnessed for the first time when he picked up vegetables with a friend, that initially attracted him. “I suspect that could be the case for at least some others,” he said. “A lot of people are doing a lot of good work and part of what I like about it is that there is a hopeful spirit of doing work. There is a real openness — it doesn’t feel exclusive at all, it feels very inclusive.”

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The RV wasn’t a formal part of his sabbatical experience, Wyglendowksi said, but it was a dream that he could realize through the sabbatical experience and the flexibility of his individualized program. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this.”

Wyglendowski and his wife Lindsay sold their condo and most of their belongings before purchasing the RV. Before they hit the road they added a new member, Lilly, to the family in October.

He took his first couple of classes locally and then headed toward Connecticut for the holidays, where they camped with relatives. He did some coursework in Vermont in early 2011. By the end of January the Wyglendowskis had made their way to South Florida. They then made a “roughly clockwise loop” to New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Arizona and then to the Denver area.

Throughout the sabbatical, Wyglendowksi learned about sustainability through books and hands-on experience. In one instance, he and some students he had been teaching visited an example of New Urbanism in Seaside Florida. New Urbanism is a movement that looks to build new cities and retrofit existing cities in ways that enable increased walking and create communal space. The community was discussed in a reading packet that Wyglendowksi and his students used.

Wyglendowski described the program itself as a “real mix” of on-site courses and an introductory course that he taught to homeschooled students about environmental sustainability. The program was “very focused on helping people develop new understanding to live in a more mutually beneficial relationship with the natural world,” he said.

A lot of the study was practical, he said, promoting getting involved in building communities that will be good for the environment and will pay off in the future. Some ways that communities might do this would be by sharing skills, planting gardens and sharing food. He discussed the possibility of towns joining to consider solar arrays.

“It’s a very hopeful and an action-oriented response to what I see as an environmental crisis,” he said.

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Although Wyglendowski said he learned a lot from books and his experiences, he found that intangible things were the most beneficial to him as a teacher. “Just the fact that I returned significantly renewed and in a very different place; I am much more engaged, interested and passionate in the teaching part again.”

He described the RV as a “radical experiment in living in a small space.” He and his wife sold almost all their belongings. The RV came with two TVs that he removed.

For his own part, he keeps a vegetable garden at home. His family has moved from two cars down to one. Wyglendowski bikes to work two days a week and carpools the other days. He lives about 7 to 8 miles from school, he said. Wyglendowski is “very aware of the fact” that as he was doing all this learning he was “burning gas and driving around the country.”

Wyglendowksi says he has implemented the idea of Big History, an area of academic study that “provides as grand a context of history as possible” in the classroom.
“You start 14 billion years ago and go until today — the notion of understanding human history within the broader context of the history of the universe,” he said. “At its best that kind of understanding helps us genuinely understand our place and I think it helps create a little more meaning of what we’re about as well as the history itself.”

Another takeaway from this project is that he hopes students will follow his example and seek to do the things that they are passionate about.

Wyglendowski hopes to revive an environmental club at the school. There was an active environmental club in 1994 when Wyglendowski was a student at Voorhees. Now he hopes to restart it and already has two potential projects in mind: a vegetable garden and proposing to the board to have some solar panels installed at the school.

He said he will start up the club with science teacher Melanie Kerr this year.