INMED USA has partnered with the Paxton Trust on a new project on the Paxton Campus in Leesburg. The new INMED School on the Paxton campus that will provide vulnerable children in our community with an educational curriculum that includes adaptive agriculture education and introduces them to the campus’ new environmental sustainability programs. This new project proposes a private school for middle-school and high-school students. In addition to a regular general education curriculum, as part of its regular class schedule, INMED will offer innovative curricula in sustainable agriculture, health, nutrition, business development, marketing, economics, environmental science, international studies, and horticulture centered around an aquaponics greenhouse and outdoor organic school gardens. INMED has an impressive history of aquaponics and adaptive agriculture education around the world, especially in South Africa, the Caribbean and Peru. The INMED School at Paxton will partner with our INMED affiliates in these countries to offer exciting opportunities for international collaboration for our Loudoun students. All INMED projects include environmental protection and preservation as a core objective. As a good neighbor, we will continue that commitment at Paxton by preserving the existing trees and vegetation boundaries to the fullest extent possible by incorporating permaculture principles.
INMED Introduces Permaculture to the Paxton Campus
As plans for the INMED School at Paxton Campus continue to develop, plans for an outdoor classroom environment are already taking shape. With the introduction of permaculture, the site of INMED’s school will become a sustainable ecosystem, in line with the new campuswide environmental sustainability program.
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a system for designing agricultural landscapes that work with nature. It is guided by a set of ethics, which include:
- Caring for the Earth
We are only as healthy as our planet. Caring for our forests, waterways and the diverse life forms around us benefits everyone. The INMED School will actively seek ways to regenerate fertility and biodiversity rather than simply sustaining current levels of land management.
- Caring for People
Healthy ecosystems heal and nurture the body, mind and spirit. The evolving permaculture landscape on Paxton Campus will include food forests, butterfly gardens, walking trails and other sensory experiences that will promote well-being and mindfulness.
- Sharing the Abundance
When we care for the Earth, nature responds by producing more biodiversity, more plants, more animals, healthier water, healthier air and a healthier environment to create a self-maintaining ecosystem that requires fewer inputs from off-site sources.
INMED USA’s permaculture project at Paxton will include food forests, butterfly gardens, nature trails and sensory habitats that both students and the surrounding community may explore and enjoy. Ultimately, we hope that permaculture will create an abundance of resources that can be reinvested into our community by fostering food security, skills development, sustainable livelihoods and self-reliance—key objectives of the INMED School.
For more information, contact Jennifer Smith, jsmith@inmed.org.
Informational Brochure: INMED Aquaponics USA
Construction Progress:
Volunteers from CyrusOne data centers, HITT Contracting and Blue Ridge Landscape Design donned gloves and safety gear to clear the site of the future INMED School at the Paxton Campus in Leesburg. Anderson Equipment Company and Sunbelt Rentals donated a bulldozer, commercial wood chipper and other heavy equipment to the effort.
“This is our second volunteer workday with INMED,” noted Stuart Dyer, Business Development Manager of CyrusOne. “INMED’s mission to help children and families achieve self-reliance complements one of our core values of being caring individuals and corporate citizens of the places where we live and work. The INMED School represents a unique approach to equipping all our neighbors for success while also protecting the environment.”
Within hours, the site was cleared and ready for the next phase of development.
Community Presentation July 17, 2020
An overview of the work of INMED Partnerships for Children and INMED USA in Loudoun County and their plans for an alternative vocational school on the Paxton Campus in Leesburg.
View the community presentation from July 17, 2020.
For more information, please email Jennifer Smith at jsmith@inmed.org.