A Ribbon Is Cut and With It, the Inauguration of BBG's Expanded Educational Mission

With the snip of a set of hedge clippers last Friday, the ribbon was cut for the inauguration of the new Farm in the Garden Camp building, the centerpiece for Berkshire Botanical Garden’s expanding education campus.

“We’ve turned what was once a scrubby area, a no man’s land back here, into this really great new space for kids to be able to learn about nature and learn about plants and learn about animals — learn about all things that have to do with being outside,” said Matt Larkin, BBG’s chairman, who spearheaded the project.

Constructed by local craftspeople from bare boughs and painstakingly milled and scribed posts and beams, the building’s primary use will be for day campers. BBG’s summer camp season runs from June 26 through Aug. 18.

Nearly 70 people attended the May 26 ribbon cutting. On hand were two sisters whose support for the project was crucial: Barbara and Melissa Leonhardt. Through the New York Community Trust, the sisters donated the construction funds in the memory of their mother, Anne Leonhardt. Until her death in 2017 at the age of 92, Anne had directed the family’s many philanthropic endeavors.

“She had a lot of passions,” said Barbara, who lives in Stockbridge. “Children’s education, the environment, helping people who are underprivileged, and empowering women and girls” were chief among those passions.

"She loved having the opportunity to give where there was a need," Barbara said. "And now, to keep her legacy going: this building. It will be here hopefully forever and be instrumental in helping a lot of people of all ages and backgrounds.”

Melissa Leonhardt called the building “amazing.”

“She’d be so happy,” she said of her mother.

With their mother in mind, the sisters have given the building its official name: the Mother Earth Lodge. 

Attendees of the ribbon cutting received a tour of the building and its dazzling new outdoor accompaniments, which include raised garden beds, a 15-by-30-foot outdoor classroom assembled from locust posts and a 70-seat amphitheater set in the adjacent woods and constructed from a reclaimed 19th century stone wall.

The expanded campus — located on the Garden’s southeast corner — provides BBG with the opportunity to increase the number of campers from 30 children a week to 50. The day camp serves children age 6 through 14, providing them with the opportunity to care for plants and animals, go on nature walks, create botanical crafts, and learn about the natural world.

The new building embodies BBG’s 89-year-long mission to fulfill the community’s need for information, education and inspiration in the art and science of gardening and the preservation of our environment. 

In his remarks at the ribbon cutting, Larkin thanked the Leonhardts and numerous others who have made the project a reality. That includes the designer of the 30-by-50-foot building, Adam Miller; the sawyer, Scott Brockway; the contractor, A.J. Schnopp Jr., Construction Inc.; the blacksmith who made the building’s hardware, Richard Wansor; the landscaper, Scott McKnight; Andrew Clayman, of Stockbridge, who donated a pair of chandeliers; Rob and Carol Williams, who funded what has been dubbed The Williams Family Amphitheater; the craftsman and designer Aaron Dunn, who constructed the 15-by-30-foot outdoor classroom assembled from locust posts; the providers of those locusts, Frank Muytjens and Scott Edward Cole, the owners of the Inn at Kenmore Hall, in Richmond, Mass.; the arborist Tom Ingersoll, whose crew harvested those locusts and constructed the amphitheater; and BBG’s staff.

Larkin also thanked his good friend the artist Cynthia Wick, who came through in the clutch the day before to the ribbon cutting. Turns out the new building’s switch plates and electrical outlet covers had been installed and they were the wrong color. Equipped with brushes and color, Wick made that problem disappear.