A History of Teaching
Quiet Creek Herb Farm & School of Country Living Inc. is dedicated to educating all ages about the importance of conservation, ecological thinking and healthful living. Quiet Creek is a 30-acre organic farm located just north of Brookville in Jefferson and Clarion Counties, Pennsylvania. Quiet Creek raises vegetables, fruits, herbs, mushrooms and flowers. The farm uses only organic techniques when fertilizing the plants, controlling weeds, and managing insects, bacteria, and fungi. Since 1996, Quiet Creek has offered unique and enhanced learning opportunities to over 100,000 public, private and home-schooled students.
Quiet Creek became a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational farm in 2003 and offers year-round educational opportunities to all ages, preschool through seniors. The classes explore sustainability, environmental stewardship and healthy lifestyle choices. Past programs have focused on whole foods, connections of the soil-food web, growing in all seasons, developing science skills through inquiry, experiment and observation, healthy watersheds, solar/wind power generation, worm composting, integrated pest management, bread-making, soap-making and more. Claire and Rusty Orner have been stewards of Quiet Creek since 1996. Combined, the Orners have over 40 years of teaching experience and 60 years of organic farming experience.
In addition to Claire and Rusty, Quiet Creek hires certified teachers who have are qualified early childhood specialists with their security clearances. In addition to education, Quiet Creek is recognized as a community resource for information on nutrition, healthy choices, and frugal self-reliance: gardening, cooking, food preservation, composting etc. (WPSU interviewed Rusty and Claire about promoting the health benefits and cost savings of victory gardens in a June 2009 WPSU interview.)
Quiet Creek programs reach students in all their different modes of learning. Activities are designed to engage all five senses and provide opportunities to be physically active and interact in groups. To create these experiences, the farm has many exhibits and facilities available.
Examples of where this takes place on the farm include:
QUIET CREEK SHOP
The first floor of Quiet Creek's renovated barn
acts as a resource center for quiet creeks soap,
herbs, tinctures, salves, books, essential oils, etc.
QUIETCREEK
BARN CLASSROOM
Rusty as he teaches a cheese making class
The second floor of our renovated barn is a stage for indoor classrooms outfitted for full instruction and demonstrations from soap making to kim chi. The barn also houses a gardening library for in-depth research
QUIET CREEK STRAW BALE ADDITION
The straw-bale house attached to the barn serves as a teaching tool for earthen buildings and creativity with your own living space. It is a room filled with energy and art and sometimes is a classroom for those subjects
The straw-bale house attached to the barn serves as a teaching tool for earthen buildings and creativity with your own living space. It is a room filled with energy and art and sometimes is a classroom for those subjects
QUIET CREEK HI TUNNELS
Two Hi-tunnels and outdoor growing space of over 50 raised beds. Produce includes vegetables, fruits, flowers, mushrooms and herbs. There is also a twenty-foot arbor surrounded by blueberries, raspberries, apple and pear trees.
QUIET CREEK YURT
A 30-foot diameter yurt and earthen bench community circle are available for reflective learning as well as hosting classes.
QUIET CREEK PAVILION
Outdoor pavilion accommodating more than 150 students for hands-on or lecture-style learning and organic dining. At times this is the location of an educational movie night or the very location for our Kids Theater Camps performance!
Rusty teaches kids on worm composting
QUIET CREEK
COMPOSTING FACILITY
A recycling, composting and worm composting program is in full operation to reduce, reuse, rot and recycle all farm wastes and student lunch leftovers. Students learn about their role in managing the waste stream.
QUIET CREEK NATURE TRAIL & STREAM
A surface water stream, wetlands, and ground water spring provide the setting for physical, chemical and biological watershed monitoring and exploration. It also provides a classroom to teach kids and adults about some of the local plants and mushrooms.
QUIET CREEK
HYBRID RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM
Quiet Creek generates the majority of electrical power with a 2.5kW wind turbine and 2.6 kW solar cell array accompanied by a weather station and online software to visually chart power generation data.
QUIET CREEK BEE HIVES
Ten outdoor hives provide the farm with excellent pollination to produce fruit from our crops. You can purchase honey from our shop!
