The town of Ithaca has been looking to develop its agricultural services and tourism options. A proposal in the southwest side of the town hopes to help with that objective.
The Learning Farm has already existed for several years at the 16-acre farmstead at 272 Enfield Falls Road, west of Robert Treman State Park. The operation, led by entrepreneur and educator Christa Núñez, consists of an organic juicery for fruit and vegetable blends, as well as sustainability agriculture training and education programs, with an emphasis on children’s education.
A plan filed with the town of Ithaca this month would enhance and expand those activities. As planned in phase one, the proposal from The Learning Farm involves the development of a learning kitchen building with educational spaces, ten 675 square-foot yurt-style seasonal guest structures to serve visiting families doing farm immersion stays during the warm season, associated gravel and grassed parking areas, trails, walkways, lighting, and stormwater management facilities. The learning kitchen building would be a 2,500 square-foot earth-bermed structure (i.e. partially built into the ground) designed to serve two groups of twenty K-12 students, and 1,500 square-feet of existing barn and silo space will be converted into classrooms and instructional space.
A second phase of the project would involve construction of a 5,000 square-foot welcome center, and a 5,000 square-foot juicing and bottling building, as well as a revised set of trails, walkways and parking. All the stormwater facilities built during phase one’s construction would be designed to handle phase two’s expanded impact on the property, whenever The Learning Farm is ready to move forward with phase two.
Source: ithacavoice.org
Categories: New York, Education