– By Gabriel Pietrorazio
A local farm is up for sale.
56 White Springs Lane, better known as the Fribolin Farm which is owned by Hobart and William Smith Colleges has recently appeared on the market, or at least portions of it.
With several Century 21 for-sale signs scattered along White Springs Lane surrounding the ranch and house, the Colleges have put the property out on the buyer’s market.
The Fribolin Farm property was placed on the market as of February 13th and split into two separate parcels.
One portion for-sale encompasses 7.9 acres out of the 34-acre property is being handled by Century 21 Listing Agent Ken Harris.
The 2,880 square foot single-family house that was built in 1965 contains six bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and currently listed for purchase at $430,000.
Aside from the ranch house that overlooks two ponds, an eight-stable barn with a 60×120 foot indoor riding arena and paddocks has also been included with the sale.
The Century 21 posting also states that an additional 25.6-arce parcel of pasture farmland north of the household has been listed separately at $220,000, which accounts for the rest of farm’s acreage.
The Colleges acquired the Fribolin Farm in January 2014 which has since been utilized as an experimental learning for food and farm field trips, garden development, cooking demonstrations and food forums.
For the last six years, the Fribolin Farm has been incorporated directly into the creation of curriculums, internships and other service-oriented programming among 60 professors and staff.
While the farm has been around for many years, new initiatives even have been emerging leading-up to the sale of the property.
In January of last year, a student farm club was created, and Sarah Meyer transitioned from her role as the food systems program manager at the Finger Lakes Institute into a full-time position as Office of Sustainability’s farm programming manger this last June.
The HWS Farm Committee was forged under former President Mark Gearan in 2014 that “pursued short-term goals and purposeful curricular and co-curricular pilot projects until May 2019.”
Succeeding the farm committee, a farm task force was constructed by current President Joyce P. Jacobsen.
Professor of Economics Tom Drennen was assigned to lead to the task force under Jacobsen’s direction.
Drennen has been currently developing a pilot curricular Farmester program that was scheduled to kick-off this upcoming summer in 2020.
Although uncertainty surrounds future programming at the farm while the property remains for-sale, the HWS Fribolin Farm Facebook page is still promoting upcoming events during the upcoming months in April and May.
The Fribolin Farm’s online vision statement reads: “The HWS Fribolin Farm is a place of experiential learning where critical thinking and an understanding of social and environmental justice are fostered among HWS students, faculty, and staff, as well as residents of Geneva and the broader Finger Lakes region. Through curricular and co-curricular offerings and community partnerships, the Farm encourages experimentation and enterprise through food and agriculture, but also deep and critical reflection about the impacts of our work at a variety of scales. We encourage the nourishment of our bodies and communities through agroecological farming practices, stewardship of land and water, mindfulness and reflection, conservation and expansion of biodiversity, and an understanding of how all of these are politically and socially situated.”
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