Farming for Future

About Blackwood

Blackwood Educational Land Institute is a nonprofit, 33-acre teaching farm in Waller County, Texas. Two acres of our land are cultivated, and the remainder is preserved in three distinct ecosystems: coastal prairie, post-oak savannah, and pine barrens.

“No one has yet charted a roadmap to a bright ecological future. If there were one, we would be solving our problems. Only innovative thinkers – those who are willing to venture away from the obvious, who are creative, clever and brave enough to try what seems to be wrong or impossible – will solve our future issues. It is my burning desire to offer young people the encouragement to experiment with what some might consider wrong or impossible, a safe place where they can try, fall, get up, and give it another try.” 

– Cath Conlon, founder and CEO, Blackwood Educational Land Institute

Mission

Blackwood Educational Land Institute is a teaching farm on a mission to model the indispensable role of regenerative food systems in all our lives. By integrating natural systems, healthy communities, and animal welfare, together we can co-create better ways to grow and source food.

As a non-profit, we seek to:

  • Practice restorative agricultural techniques to inspire and prepare the next wave of farmers and ecologists
  • Teach a strong work ethic to youth as they learn where their food comes from
  • Provide programming to cultivate awareness about how regenerative food systems are critical to solving our environmental crisis
  • Demonstrate the essential balance of food production and land preservation
  • Foster the discovery and renewal of relationships with the natural world

Daily, we commit to lifelong learning, diversity and gathering with family, friends, and community.

Vision

To create a conscious generation for a regenerative agricultural future.