Round the Bend Farm
Join us in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts for a week of farming, learning and building community, with a focus on integrated food-energy-water systems. This week-long farm experience is part of the Climate Farm School learning program.
About the farm
The property
Round the Bend Farm (RTB) is situated along the Farm Coast of southeastern New England, on the ancestral lands of the Wampanoag people. It is a non-profit educational farm devoted to its mission of valuing diversity, modeling nature, and redefining wealth. The farm hosts annual vegetable production, perennial crops and animal husbandry, in partnership with independent “agripreneurs” who own and manage most of the animals on the land. The farm also employs an eclectic range of practices, in order to grow the most health-sustaining soils and nutrient-dense, bioactive food and medicine possible.
- South Dartmouth, Massachusetts (USA)
- Part of Terra.do's Climate Farm School
- roundthebendfarm.org/
Farm team
Peter Zine grew up exploring the woods and waterways of southeastern Massachusetts and feels inextricably connected to that region. He completed his undergraduate studies and taught in the MA Public Schools for a few years before embarking on a graduate program in Ecological Teaching and Learning, which catalyzed his commitment to place-based learning and living. After teaching for twelve years at progressive independent school, Peter, his wife and their two children sought new challenges and adventures. They traveled, started homeschooling, and doubled down on applying principles of permaculture to their landscape – where they raise chickens, goats, a dog, a cat and honey bees; grow a variety of annual and perennial fruits, vegetables and herbs; and make their own ferments, teas, tinctures and salves.
Glimpses from the farm
Hands-on activities
Prepare to get your hands dirty with a wide range of activities offered at the farm.
Farming and forestry
- Vegetable cultivation following permaculture principles
- Visits to local farms and food justice/food sovereignty projects (e.g. Sharing the Harvest at Dartmouth YMCA, Brix Bounty Farm)
- Soil carbon workshop and on-farm ecological restoration with local conservation and ecology groups
- Participate in local seed saving and seed sovereignty initiative
Food and cooking
- Harvesting and group meal preparation using farm-fresh produce
- Daily farm lunches with farm team
- Food preservation in the commercial kitchen
- Special meal prepared by local chefs for course participants and other invited guests from the local food + farming community
Pricing and expected commitment
US $2200 – $2600
Hear from Climate Farm School fellows
Caroline Santinelli
"Climate Farm School should be required coursework for every generation.. I've learned that it doesn't matter if you work in the climate or agriculture industry; as humans, we are a part of, not apart from, the agro-ecosystem, and we owe it to ourselves and our planet to understand the complexity of our food systems."
Varsha Uthappa
"The week spent on the farm was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.. This course has given me so much knowledge, insight, perspective and hope.. The course material combined with all the people associated in making it what it is makes it so unique and like nothing else out there."
