Growing up in a mining town in northern Ontario, I never learned much about farming — until now.

Life is often long, and Canada has offered much new learning all along the way. I have had the one quality: curiosity.

That, combined with a growing global awareness, and hanging out with and being taught by well-informed people and groups who were conscientious about participating in the world and increasing human well-being, have led me to Northcote Farm — just north of Lakefield — and part of Lakefield College School. In mid-winter.

Made recently famous because Canadian rock musician Neil Young — who grew up in Omemee — played a sellout concert on the site outdoors in May 2025 as a fundraiser for the rehabilitation of the historical farmhouse. Young believes that farms and history matter in education and in general awareness. The concert drew 2,000 people.

Northcote Farm was given to the school in 2007 by a former student and his wife, Donald and Gretchen Ross. It occupies 160 acres on the shore of Lake Katchewanooka, a 45-minute paddle north of the main campus.

The vision and leadership needed for moving toward the creation of a location for educational opportunities became crucial. And it appeared.

It is full throttle today, under the leadership of assistant head of sustainability Janice Greenshields, and director Bruce McMahon, assisted by two young women, Emma Macdonald, operations manager, who has a degree in sustainable agriculture, and Jade OKeeffe, who is an educator and farmer known in Peterborough for her talent as an actor and playwright, but is also committed to increasing healthy food production for the community. Add climate awareness and passionate concern, and the ingredients are all there.

All three educators are part of a team employed to manage, teach and work with youth, including the 445 year-round students, and the summer camp attendees, who are as young as five years old.

An important goal for the school is connections with the community. McMahon, who is a retired history teacher with fond memories of growing up rural in the eastern townships of Quebec — though not on a farm — has been involved since 2007. He speaks of the warm welcome to the enterprise from the neighbours, who helped with machinery and know how.

“It is a bridge builder,” he says, “and we try to do our part by giving over half the produce to the village food bank. About half is destined for the LCS kitchen.”

One can see philanthropic principals at work here as well as environmental stewardship and scientific ones.

In future, Northcote hopes to work together with local high schools in designing and providing courses in what the Ministry of Education has deemed a compulsory area for students to graduate: one course in the field of forestry, horticulture, or agriculture.

To date, farm programs have been extended to elementary schools. Some 70 items — fruits, vegetables and flowers — are grown on the farm. It also produces honey from beehives.

I ask the teachers if the administration and board of the school have been fully behind the notion of Northcote Farm as a crucial component of the curriculum. They were unanimous in declaring there has been nothing but support for their work. It fits with the school’s plan that every student feels a deep connection to nature.

It struck me that in terms of moderating global warming, the notion of regenerative farming is not only being taught there but practised. They spoke of the visionary outlook of the head of school Ann-Marie Kee.

The spokespersons have satisfaction at its development. “If we can engender a love and appreciation of the natural world by showing the joys as well as the necessity for food growing, along with a realistic dose of the hard physical work involved in it, we will create a healthier and happier population,” Jade O’Keeffe says.

That is something schools can and must care a lot about.

© Peterborough Examiner