Operations assistant Stacy Bernstien and CEO Amelia Foxwell are joined by Acacia’s Farm students before heading on stage to accept a $2,200 grant from the Maryland Agricultural Council.
Operations assistant Stacy Bernstien and CEO Amelia Foxwell are joined by Acacia’s Farm students before heading on stage to accept a $2,200 grant from the Maryland Agricultural Council.
STEVENSVILLE — The crop-growing life coaches and educators at Acacia’s Farm were awarded a $2,200 grant from the Maryland Agriculture Council earlier this month. The funds will be used to broaden the private school’s keystone projects, which combine the foundational elements of early education with the practical experiences of cultivating an agricultural product.
Making the trip from Kent Island to the Live Casino in Hanover, 41 staff members, students, and their families were honored March 3 at the 52nd annual Taste of Maryland Agriculture Celebration, the council’s yearly award presentation.
This year, the council’s top two recipients were based in education, as the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation received the evening’s biggest award with a $2,500 grant to cover similar material costs.
Amelia Foxwell, CEO of Acacia’s Farm who branched the agricultural school beyond the Sweet Bay Magnolia Academy, said the grant will fund 23 student projects.
Staying true to the school’s model, the “kiddos,” as Foxwell calls them, applied for the grants themselves — with adult supervision, of course.
“It was a very big deal for us to be awarded for this,” Foxwell said. “But also, it was a really big deal for our kids to be able to attend and our families to be able to attend and understand the greater agriculture community that has embraced us.”
“A lot of people skip over the value and real meaning of all the agricultural impacts that we have in Maryland,” she continued. “It’s really neat to be able to stand in that room and [watch] people who grew up in the city or moved here from somewhere else really understand how much agriculture really impacts our community and our economy.
“It was really neat for our kids to be able to be a part of that.”
With a more traditional campus in Stevensville and a separate farm location in Denton, Acacia’s Farm students are exposed to dimensions of science, reading, and economics through original, farm-based projects. Stretching across the entire school year, the projects end up producing a variety of tangible, sellable items — including, in the past, “do it yourself” salsa kits, honey-based lip balm, and homemade popsicles.
“We knew that we could teach all of the core curriculum classes in a child-centered, hands-on manner,” said Brian Tyler, director of education and curriculum at Acacia’s Farm. “Because the projects are student selected, they have an intrinsic motivation for wanting to do the project well.”
Tyler added, “I feel like kids are so often told what they’re going to do and what they’re going to learn. But there’s an innate value in it because it’s theirs.”
When the school first opened in 2020, the students were brought to a local farmer’s market to promote, pitch and sell their products. Though the venture was a success, Foxwell was not satisfied. In October 2021, the school opened a co-op store in Historic Stevensville where the fruits of the students’ labor are sold on a regular basis.
Specifically, Foxwell said the grant will help fund projects dedicated to growing popcorn and pine berries, photography, and crafting tomato sauce and jams, among several others.
Edward Mullarkey, the young man behind Mullarkey Pops, will be making popsicles again this year.
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