Photos: Stone Barns Visit 2010

Youth Arts New York, the parent organization of Hibakusha Stories, has been taking students to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture since it opened in 2004.  Stone Barns is located on 80 acres, 25 miles north of the Bronx and 18 miles south of Indian Point nuclear power plant.  Since most of Hibakusha Stories students live too far from Stone Barns to make maximum use of it’s educational programs, we use the opportunity for them to learn about the concept of Nuclear Guardianship and the hazards of radioactive waste storage.  City students can contribute to the sustainability of Stone Barns by becoming Nuclear Guardians.  In May of 2010, we brought 40 hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and 40 students from Kingsbridge International High School in the Bronx to Stone Barns.  Stone Barns was once the farm of David and Peggy Rockefeller, and two generations of the Rockefeller family accompanied us on the trip.  At the end of the day we planted a cherry tree, whose fruit will be eaten at Blue Hill Restaurant at Stone Barns.  Planted with the tree were pieces of rice paper upon which each person wrote a statement expressing something in their lives that will grow and contribute to a peaceful and sustainable future for all beings.