Pre-conference Offsite Tours:
#1 - Cornerstones of Care, Ozanam
Cornerstones of Care provides social services to children and families throughout Kansas and Missouri. The Ozanam campus in south Kansas City offers residential and day treatment programs. The horticultural therapy program provides educational, vocational, and therapeutic opportunities. In the greenhouse, students learn everything from plant propagation to hydroponics systems. On the campus, there is a half-acre of vegetable gardens, an orchard, and 13 raised beds of cut flower production. The vegetables provide food to the culinary programs and campus kitchen. Flower bouquets are sold at local markets. During your tour at Ozanam, we will walk through the gardens and greenhouse, then participate in a horticultural therapy activity of making soil blocks.
(Boxed Lunch Provided)
#2 - KC Farm School at Gibbs Road
KC farm school at Gibbs Road, is located in Kansas City, Kansas. Their mission is to bring individuals of all ages, ancestries and abilities on-farm, hands-on, to connect to land and soil, food, community and opportunity. We will tour this inspiring, empowering farm.
(Farm fresh lunch provided)
Optional Tours:
Round out the end of your tour day with an optional, unstructured visit to the Kauffman Memorial Garden and the Gorman Discovery Center, located next to each other and just 1mi from the hotel. See descriptions below:
Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden, Lush and diverse plant beds feature local and exotic botanicals, including some plant varieties not found elsewhere in the Midwest. Botany students often visit the nationally-known garden to explore its distinctiveness. Open 8am to dusk.
The Gorman Discovery Center offers eight acres of natural areas with short paved and natural trails through forest, woodland, wetland, and prairie habitats. The area has demonstration beds showcasing how native plants can be used for home landscaping. Open 8am – 5pm.
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