Farmhands 2014 Summer Programs Lead Instructors

This summer Guidestone has three lead instructors for our Farmhands Youth Education programs held at the Salida School Gardens on Holman Ave., the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch & Learning Center in Salida, The Morgan Center for Earth Literacy in Poncha Springs, and The Meadows Farms in Buena Vista. Here they are! Say hi if you see them around town and ask them what their favorite part of Farmhands is. They're pretty friendly, if you can't tell.

Ann Colbert 

Growing up in Colorado, Ann spent lots of time in the wilderness and in the garden developing a passion for the natural world, which inspired her to pursue a career in environmental studies. Ann has a BS in Natural Resources from Colorado State University and a MA in Teaching from Colorado College. Ann has worked as director and program instructor for a variety of land management agencies and non-profits in Colorado. Ann is currently Guidestone’s Education & Interpretation Specialist.

Karen Fortier

Karen combines two great loves in her life – teaching children and growing food – in her position as Education Specialist for Guidestone’s Farm to School Program. After spending 19 years in Alaska working as a Resource Education Park Ranger, she and her family moved to the Upper Arkansas Valley with the dream of growing more of their own food.

Suzanne Ward

Suzanne Ward is a Colorado native and a fourth generation farmer in the Arkansas River Valley. She and her husband Dave own and operate The Morgan Center in Poncha Springs, Colorado, where they do the Sacred Work of agriculture and Earth Literacy Education. Suzanne has a degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado, a teacher's certificate from the University of Alaska and a Masters in Education from Regis University in Denver. She taught grades preschool to sixth in the public schools for 25 years. Suzanne spent a year on an organic farm in New Jersey in 2004, where she interned teaching Earth Literacy. She has certificates in Master Gardener, Master Food Safety and Food Preservation, and Permaculture. Suzanne and her husband, Dave, co-founded and serve on the board of the Central Colorado Foodshed Alliance. Earth Education and reviving local foods are her passions. 

Colorado Farm Succession Coordinators Certified

Representatives from a number of agricultural organizations gathered in Denver on May 28^th to learn of a new service being offered in Colorado - Farm and Ranch Succession Coordination. This meeting was convened by Guidestone and Colorado State University’s Building Farmers in the West team to announce the team of Farm and Ranch Succession Coordinators that were recently certified through the International Farm Transition Network (IFTN), an organization that has been spearheading farm succession efforts since 1990. John Baker, founder and current president of IFTN, made a presentation about farm succession planning as a service to help retiring farmers and ranchers across Colorado design a transition plan to meet their family and financial goals.

Attendees at the meeting learned about Guidestone’s Colorado Land Link program and the role of farm succession planning in transitioning Colorado’s agricultural resources and heritage into the hands of next generation farmers and ranchers. The need for this service is stark in Colorado where the average age of principal farm and ranch operators across the state has risen to 58.3, as reported by the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture. This also amidst a population growth boom in Colorado that is three times the national average, which places intense development pressures on our agricultural resources and the families that manage them. Farm succession coordinators can be instrumental in facilitating farm and ranch families through the step-by-step process of creating a succession plan that will keep Colorado’s agricultural lands vibrant and in production.

The newly certified Colorado Farm Succession Coordinators will engage in continuing education programs with Colorado State University to ensure they can effectively help Colorado’s farm and ranch families through this process. Additionally a list of professionals, who have expertise in working with Colorado farmers and ranchers  and developing the legal and financial instruments crucial to a succession plan, is being organized for referral.

A published list of Certified Farm Succession Coordinators will be soon available on the Guidestone website.

For more information or to seek out a Farm and Ranch Succession Coordinator who fits your needs, please contact David Lynch, Colorado Land Link Director at David@GuidestoneColorado.org or 719.966.2237