Send us Fan Mail Sponsored by Tierra Farm; Music by Aaron Dessner  In this episode Martin Ping, Hawthorne Valley’s Executive Director, welcomes Cornelius Pietzner, who served as the Director of Camphill Communities of North America, and whose father Carlo brought the Camphill movement to the US, including founding Camphill Copake. Hawthorne Valley’s origin story is closely tied to Camphill Copake as our Waldorf school was, in part, founded to accommodate the children of the Camphill Copake co...

Season Two, Episode Four: Conrad Vispo and Claudia Knab Vispo on the work of Hawthorne Valley's Farmscape Ecology Program

Situated on a 900-acre Biodynamic farm in upstate New York, Hawthorne Valley has spent the last half a century working to foster social and cultural renewal through the integration of agriculture, education, and the arts. As we mark our 50th anniversary we want to share not just our story, but also the stories of our friends and contemporaries from across the globe who dedicate their lives in purposeful pursuit of meeting the ecological, social, and spiritual needs or our time. In an oft-quoted passage from one of our founders, Karl Ege, he suggests that the work that we are undertaking together at Hawthorne Valley “will create a place in which it is possible, in a true sense, to become a full human being.” At its core this work is about the future. Every day as our farmers tend to the soil and care for animals, our educators teach students to engage more deeply with themselves and the world around them, and we work together to try to create a structure for social equity, we aim to foster the conditions that will allow the future to emerge in its most life affirming manifestation. We invite you to join us!