{"id":22986,"date":"2025-03-26T16:11:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T22:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-school-to-farm-project-official-steps-down-reflects-on-growth-of-projects\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:22:06","slug":"montezuma-school-to-farm-project-official-steps-down-reflects-on-growth-of-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-school-to-farm-project-official-steps-down-reflects-on-growth-of-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma School to Farm project official steps down, reflects on growth of projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Former
Former Executive Director Ben Goodrich of the Montezuma School to Farm Project in the field. (Sorrell Redford\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

After nearly four years as executive director of the Montezuma School to Farm Project, Ben Goodrich is stepping down.<\/p>\n

On April 1, Education Director Sorrell Redford will step in as interim director while the board looks to fill the position, a search they intend to \u201ctake time\u201d doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure the application matches our mission and where we want to go,\u201d said Greg Felsen, the board\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

Goodrich expressed his excitement for \u201cthe next chapter\u201d of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just one person in the lineage,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m excited for fresh eyes, fresh excitement. What will someone new come up with?\u201d<\/p>\n

For the past four years, Goodrich has used his \u201ccrazy knowledge of growing\u201d to help advance the Montezuma School to Farm Project, which, put simply, \u201cprovides engaging garden lessons \u2026 to Montezuma County schools,\u201d according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As it stands, they teach a range of students \u2013 three years old to high school \u2013 in the Mancos and Cortez school districts to unite \u201cour local agricultural heritage with our growing future by engaging students,\u201d its mission reads.<\/p>\n

Goodrich described their approach as \u201cthree-pronged\u201d: They aim to educate students on food production, nutrition and resource conservation.<\/p>\n

Those three focus areas guide its curriculum, which Education Director Redford rewrote to ease comprehension.<\/p>\n

It now reads like a \u201cclassic school lesson,\u201d said Redford.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t always that way, and the project itself has grown and changed with time.<\/p>\n

When the Montezuma School to Farm Project started 16 years ago, it was part of the Mancos Conservation District.<\/p>\n

Goodrich got his start with the project in 2018 \u2013 on the exact same day as Redford \u2013 as a production manager, a role he summed up as \u201cmowing grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January 2020, the project transitioned to its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit, as it had decidedly \u201coutgrown\u201d the conservation district, said Goodrich.<\/p>\n

In fact, at the time, the project had a presence in schools in all three municipalities in Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

Shortly after it became its own entity, the pandemic hit and soon after, in August 2021, its director left unannounced.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I stepped in,\u201d said Goodrich.<\/p>\n

Ever since, it\u2019s been the \u201cBen and Sorrell show,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Goodrich focused on the growing side of things, while Redford took the lead on education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that first week, the first month, we dreamed up a perfect world of the organization,\u201d Goodrich said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve checked a lot of those boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

They wanted to create something \u201cunique to Montezuma County, but also to create something that other schools could incorporate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cHe\u2019s
\u201cHe\u2019s been involved in all parts of it,\u201d said the Montezuma School to Farm Project\u2019s Executive Director Sorrell Redford of Ben Goodrich, its former executive director (right). (Sorrell Redford\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A sunny field day with Ben Goodrich, former executive director of the Montezuma School to Farm Project. (Sorrell Redford\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThe turning point\u201d was when Redford rewrote the curriculum, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of having 101 things we\u2019re focused on, we dialed it back to three,\u201d said Goodrich.<\/p>\n

And in the name of \u201cquality over quantity,\u201d they reduced how many schools they taught in, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were stretched thin, so we scaled it back to just the Mancos and Cortez district,\u201d said Goodrich.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to get back to Dolores, though,\u201d said Felsen.<\/p>\n

Redford said her approach to education is one \u201cwhere the student, teacher and environment are all valued equally,\u201d Redford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put an amazing amount of effort into that environmental piece,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Redford highlighted how kids who need typically support in most classes don\u2019t need that support in garden class; in fact, they thrive.<\/p>\n

Academics are woven into garden class; students are doing math, said Goodrich, as they count how many onions are planted in a bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, there\u2019s an outdoor element to education,\u201d Goodrich said. \u201cOnly recently we took it indoors, under fluorescent lights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a separation from nature,\u201d Redford added.<\/p>\n

Garden class is about \u201cgetting kids outside and interacting with the natural world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids are working with crops their grandparents ate,\u201d said Redford.<\/p>\n

Kids \u201cwork with the crops their grandparents ate,\u201d growing things like winter squash, corn, chili peppers, tomatoes that have \u201cregional and cultural relevance,\u201d said Goodrich.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd loads of herbs,\u201d said Redford.<\/p>\n

In addition to growing, they teach cooking and canning too, since \u201cthere are so many ways to interact with food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redford and Felsen both underscored how Goodrich has \u201cbeen involved in all parts of it, which is unusual for an executive director.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe transformed the middle school gardens in Mancos and Cortez into food-producing examples,\u201d said Redford.<\/p>\n

Goodrich remembered how, when the school in Mancos was under construction, he had salvaged what he could from the existing garden before they built over it.<\/p>\n

For two years during construction, Mancos was garden-less. And then, \u201cfinally, the construction was done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The land they were allotted to build a new garden was formerly home to a mobile home. There were forgotten tires on-site, and an old gas line poked out of the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never been so excited,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a challenge to see if it would work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, he said, it was a pandemic project, so he had plenty of time \u2013 with the help of AmeriCorps workers \u2013 to transform it. And to everyone\u2019s surprise, that space is now a productive garden.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma
Montezuma School to Farm Project\u2019s former Executive Director Ben Goodrich in the field with a student, planting. (Sorrell Redford\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Goodrich said he\u2019s staying in the area, at his home in Hesperus, and will focus on growing and tending to his own fields in Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to keep growing my ag skills,\u201d said Goodrich.<\/p>\n

He said that an agricultural skill set is akin to a yoga practice in that \u201cthere\u2019s no finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think you figure something out, you\u2019re humbled and realize you know nothing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s continuous learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the off season, he joked about writing romance novels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have a continued partnership with our romance novelist,\u201d Felsen laughed. \u201cAmeriCorps kids will go to his farm and keep learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the wheel keeps on turning. We\u2019re going to roll up our sleeves and dig in,\u201d said Felsen.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in the executive director or productions manager position at the Montezuma School to Farm Project, reach out via email to Greg Felsen at gregory.felsen@colostate.edu<\/a> or Sorrell Redford at sredford@mstfp.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Education director will step in as interim executive director<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77931,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22986\/revisions\/77931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22986"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}