Nearly 100 business owners and friends of the Harmony Institute and their families got together at the Institute’s Spirit Farm on June 26 for an old-fashioned Osceola County barbeque to support the development of an Outdoor Learning Center at the farm. Guests enjoyed great food prepared by Kissimmee caterer BarberQ, along with farm tours, children’s activities, and even a hayride.
The Outdoor Learning Center is slated to open at the farm this fall, and will serve over 2000 second and sixth grade county students during each academic year. The Center will also provide special half-day programming (general farm experience, naturalist experience, or cowpoke experience) for groups of children of all ages by appointment. The purpose of the Center is to fulfill the Harmony Institute’s mission of promoting human health and well-being through the interaction of people, animals and the environment. All informal outdoor education experiences will have a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focus using nature as a classroom and animals as teachers’ aides.
Event host committee co-chairs Pete Pace of Clancy and Theys Construction Company and John McKay, Osceola County Board Chairman (District 5) played instrumental roles in bringing so many people out to Spirit Farm. The co-chairs, along with host committee members Kip Bonar, President & CEO of Ranger Companies; Dr. Michael Grego, Superintendent of the Osceola County School District; Rick Wesley, President/CEO of REW Landscape Corp.; and Don Wetherington, Owner/Founder of Wetherington Builders, called on their friends and colleagues to help the Harmony Institute by offering vision, ideas and assistance in terms of materials and labor to create a fully functioning Outdoor Learning Center.
The Center’s foundation has already taken hold with generous donations from front-runners who contributed time, effort and materials: Clancy and Theys provided critical ground preparation for the two 40’ x 24’ portable classrooms at the farm, while REW Landscape Corporation provided an aesthetically pleasing entrance to the classrooms with a donation of lush sod. The Bass Road Resource Recovery Site (Osceola Co. Solid Waste) donated several truckloads of composted garden soil, and Misty Blue Acres Carriage Company donated “organic fertilizer.” Plan-It Earth Solutions, which collects and recycles used cooking oil for fuel, donated two water tanks in addition to a barrel that is being used during the Institute’s summer camp to teach children bull riding. Utility poles given to the Institute by KUA provided the structure for the bull riding equipment. A big hit at the barbeque and during the Institute’s summer camp has been “Red’s Saloon,” an “old west” saloon designed and constructed by Distinctive Homes, Inc. where the kids hitched up the mini horses and went inside to refresh themselves with a root beer float. Pro-Build assisted with a donation of $500 of construction materials.
Although the Outdoor Learning Center is off to a good start thanks to the dedicated work of co-chairs Pete Pace and John McKay and our host committee, there is quite a bit of work to do to be ready for students this fall. Barbeque guests signed up to assist with projects such as plumbing and fencing. Still, there is a need for a covered wooden walkway and ramp between the classrooms, electricity to the classrooms, a septic tank, outdoor furniture, other walkways, and several other items and projects.

To learn how you can assist with the development of the Outdoor Learning Center and the work of the Harmony Institute, please call 407-957-0207. All donors will be permanently acknowledged on a sign at The Outdoor Learning Center for helping to launch an innovative and vital learning atmosphere for our children.
Further information about the Harmony Institute and its programs can be found at the Institute website at www.harmonyinstitute.org and the organization’s Facebook page at www.facebook/TheHarmonyInstitute.com.
The Harmony Institute’s Spirit Farm is located behind Harmony High School, and boasts large vegetable gardens, miniature horses and donkeys, goats, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Spirit Farm is also home to Touchdown, the longhorn mascot of Harmony High School, and Victory, the shorthorn mascot of the Harmony Community School.
The Harmony institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote human health and well-being through the interaction of people, animals and the environment.