4 learn & community in Dutchess County, New York.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County, serving the county's agricultural and residential communities since 1913 from the Dutchess County Farm & Home Center in Millbrook. Programs span agriculture and food systems, environmental education, 4-H youth development, family and consumer education, community horticulture, and the Green Teen Community Gardening Program in Beacon. Master Gardeners staff a Horticulture Hotline April through September. Manages the Taste NY Market at Todd Hill rest stop on the Taconic Parkway. Operates CSA resources and farm business consulting.
The 179th annual Dutchess County Fair, held each August in Rhinebeck — one of the most celebrated county fairs in the Hudson Valley. Features 4-H livestock competitions on Livestock Hill, grandstand entertainment, rides, local food, and agricultural exhibits. A beloved regional institution drawing families from across the Hudson Valley.
A bioregional herbalism school offering a year-long intensive called Wild Medicine Ways, focused on the plants of the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Covers field botany, plant identification, diverse medicine-making practices, and deep ecological relationship with the local landscape. Centers environmental justice, decolonization, and bioregionalism as foundations of herbal practice. For students who want more than recipes — a roots-down understanding of plant medicine in the Hudson Valley bioregion.
The educational and heritage breed farm programs at Stony Kill Farm in Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County. Hosts annual Family Farm Day events, heritage breed livestock demonstrations, fiber shows, and agricultural education programs on the historic Stony Kill property. Features registered Tunis sheep, Milking Devon cattle, Dominique chickens, and rare heritage poultry breeds.