My name is Xavier Cunningham. I am a high school Dreamer from the Colorado I have a Dream program and I have grown up watching Central Park develop as a community. I didn’t know about a lot of the great things in Central Park, yet I have learned many great and surprising discoveries: and hope to tell you about these unique places, through my eyes, in this blog series called “Did You Know?” Introducing the eleventh story in the series.
The Urban Farm
The Urban Farm is a very popular place for Central Park residents. Adults and kids as young as 4 years old participate in all the specialized programs. They have seasonal programs, programs year round, field trips for students, programs for volunteers, programs to work with dirt and plants, programs that work with animals, and several programs specific to horses. This is because, although most people think The Urban Farm was based on crops, it was actually based on horses when it started.
The Urban Farm (originally called Embracing Horses), started as an after school horsemanship education program for students in 1993. It was designed to provide at-risk kids with a farm experience and knowledge about horses. In 1998, the program moved near Central Park providing agricultural, environmental and equine education. The program started out with 15 students in 1993, but now gets around 3,000 students a year. There have also been 2,000 kids that attended field trips to the farm and 800 volunteers that donated a total of 12,000 hours to the farm.
As I mentioned earlier, there are many fun and educational programs for people of all ages throughout the year. For ages 4-6, The Urban Farm offers a “Storybook Farm” program. For ages 7-10, they host an “I want to be a farmer” program. For ages 8-15, they hold an “Everything Horses” program. And let’s not forget the “Evening Riding” classes for ages 5-18.
So please bring the kids, bring the adults, and bring the sunscreen! The Urban Farm is a great place to visit often and learn new things about agriculture and the environment from professionals that love their job.
Learn more about Central Park’s vast collection of parks and open space by viewing the new Parks Brochure.
