Learning by Growing: Teaching Farmers in NYC Schools
At Mi Oh My Farms, our Teaching Farmers travel across New York City facilitating hands-on, inquiry-based workshops focused on growing nutrient-dense superfoods like microgreens and mushrooms and exploring subjects such as regenerative aquaponics. These workshops sit at the intersection of science, food justice, environmental stewardship, and creative exploration—meeting students where they are while inviting them into deeper relationship with food and land.
From Teaching Artists to Teaching Farmers
New York City has a long and powerful tradition of Teaching Artists—artists who bring their creative practice into schools and community spaces as educators. For many artists, teaching is a way to supplement income while staying rooted in community, sharing skills, and inspiring young people through lived experience.
One of Mi Oh My Farms’ founders, Katy Mejia, came up through this very ecosystem. After completing training through the Teaching Artist Project, Katy worked as a Teaching Artist with organizations including Red Hook Arts Project, Marquis Studios, Reel Works and Mima Music, facilitating songwriting and video editing workshops in public schools and after-school programs throughout NYC.
When Mi Oh My Farms was founded in 2020, Katy posed a simple but transformative question:
What if farmers could have a similar role?
What if growers, food justice advocates, and land-based educators could teach, create, and earn—just like artists do?
From that question, the Teaching Farmer role was born.
What Our Teaching Farmers Do
Mi Oh My Farms Teaching Farmers are not just instructors—they are practitioners. They bring real-world farming experience into classrooms through K–12 S.T.E.A.M.-aligned workshops that explore:
Plant biology and ecosystems
Fungi and decomposition
Food systems and nutrition
Environmental justice and urban agriculture
Hands-on cultivation of microgreens and mushrooms
Our workshops are designed to be engaging, culturally responsive, and adaptable—serving elementary, middle, and high school students across NYC in both in-school and after-school settings.
Over the last two years alone, thousands of students across the city have learned directly from Teaching Farmers, many of whom are growers, organizers, artists, and activists rooted in their own communities.
Just like Teaching Artists, Teaching Farmers are able to supplement their income, deepen their educational practice, and stay connected to youth—while helping shape the next generation’s relationship to food and the environment.
Spotlighting Our Newest Teaching Farmers
We’re excited to spotlight one of our newest Teaching Farmers, Anneli Marceles.
Anneli is a Colombian-born, NYC-based educator and artist whose work is rooted in community, land, and spirit. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Anneli and her family were part of the historic GreenThumb movement, helping protect community gardens that continue to serve the public today.
Her lifelong relationship with the land deeply informs her work as a Teaching Farmer and spiritual guide. Anneli integrates food cultivation, yoga, and mind–body–spirit practices, creating learning environments where students are encouraged not only to grow food, but to cultivate awareness, care, and connection—to themselves and to the world around them.
Anneli brings a grounded, heart-centered approach to the classroom, reminding us that education is not just about information, but about relationship.
We’re also proud to welcome Graciela Ferry Hawk alongside Anneli as one of our newest Teaching Farmers in the video below—stay tuned for more spotlights soon.
Partner Schools Across NYC
Our Teaching Farmers have brought workshops into classrooms at over a dozen NYC schools — inspiring young learners from Bronx Arena High School to PS 110 Theodore Schoenfeld, from Nightingale Bamford to Xavier High School, and across all five boroughs. Through these partnerships, students engage directly with science, food systems, and sustainable growing practices right where they learn.
Looking Ahead
As Mi Oh My Farms continues to grow, we’re actively developing new curriculum that merges art, nutrition, and food cultivation, further honoring the roots of Teaching Artists while expanding what S.T.E.A.M. education can look like.
In the meantime, we invite educators, administrators, and partners to explore our 2025–2026 Curriculum Program Guide to learn more about our workshops, learning objectives, and partnership opportunities.
