“I believe that the best classroom is the one without walls where we can pose our questions to the landscapes that are waiting to tell us their stories. How we use these stories may help change our relationship to the land, ensuring sustainable and ethical solutions to critical environmental problems.”
Peggy Eppig
LecturerEnvironmental Studies
Peggy Eppig is a part-time lecturer at Gocher College in undergrade and graduate Environmental Studies. She earned her PhD at Antioch University New England, NH, with an emphasis in 20th century agricultural and conservation history. She currently serves as Director of Natural Resources Education at the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation and Coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Farm-Based Education Network. In the past, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Keene State University and Antioch University in Keene, NH, in agroecology, natural history, and global environmental change. Her research includes ecological pilgrimage studies and 20th century conservation history. She is a long-distance hiker and expeditionary educator with experience in outdoor education, backcountry guiding, and natural history field schools.
Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress
My current research includes working in the personal papers and photographic collections of P. Alston Waring and Beulah Hurley Waring at Haverford College for an edition of 20th century biographies in Quaker conservation. Ongoing research and manuscript writing continues for “The Conservation Paradox” concerning sacrificial domestic landscapes of wartime economies (West Virginia University Press). Also, I am working on a series of essays as future book chapters on ecological pilgrimage with assistance from the Institute of Pilgrimage Studies, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. In fine arts, I am working on a series of transitional landscapes of northern Spain.
Publications
Eppig, P. (2017) “Farm-Based Education for the Maryland Equine Industry,” Maryland Horse Industry Board & Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation.
Eppig, P., (2016) “Chesapeake Food, Farm, and Bay: Farm-Based Education.” Chesapeake Bay Trust & Maryland Agrcultural Education Foundation.
Eppig, P. (2013) “Educators Guide to the Science and History of the Delmarva Poultry Industry.” Delmarva Poultry Industry & Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation.
Eppig, P. (2012) “Farm Boundaries as Ecological Systems.” Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. Vol. 79, No. 4: pp. 451-562.
Eppig, P. (2011) “What is Agroecology? (And Why Should We Care?)” Monadnock Table. Vol. 2, No 7.
Eppig, P. (2007) “River of History: The Susquehanna.” Sea Kayaking Magazine.
Eppig, P. (1999-2005) “The Naturalists Corner.” Regular column. Pennsylvania Forestry Journal.
Exhibits or Performances
“Herons and Egrets of the Lowcountry.” Charleston Wildfowl Festival. Featured Artist, 1984.
“Waders of the Chesapeake.” Liriodendron Museum and Gallery. Solo Exhibit. Bel Air, MD, 1990
“Turtles and Kin.” Liriodendron Museum and Gallery. Two-Person Show (with Dave DeRan), 2010
External Awards, Honors, Grants
2004 Seattle Foundation Grant, Expeditionary Learning, $30K
2013 Chesapeake Bay Trust Education Program Grant, Farm-Based Education in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, $25,000
2015 Maryland Horse Industry Board, Curriculum Project for Equine Farm-Based Education, $10,000.
Conference Papers & Panel Participation
June 22, 2017. “Art of Conservation Science: Field Notebooks of Historical Naturalists Journals.” Building A Land Ethic Conference. Aldo Leopold Foundation and University of Wisconsin. Baraboo.
April, 2016. “Farm-Based Education for the Working Farm: Engaging STEM Students.” Young Farmers Conference, State College, PA.
August, 2015. “Climate in the Field: Farm-Based Education and STEM Students.” Aldo Leopold Conference, Baraboo, WI. Conference Session.
Oct. 22-23, 2013. “Environmental Science Curriculum Design for Experiential Learning in Farm-Based Education.” Vermont Farm-Based Education Forum. Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, VT. Multi-day workshop.
June, 2013. “Pollination Studies and Education for the School Campus.” Maryland State Department of Education and NOAA B-Wet Teachers Summer Intensive. Issues Investigation for Agriculture and the Chesapeake. North Bay Conference Center, MD. Half day workshop and field session.
March, 2014. “Linking Farm-to-School and Farm-Based Education.” Farm-to-Plate National Conference, Austin, TX. Session. Karen Fedor, MDA, co-presenter.
Feb. 9-11, 2013. “Taking Agriculture Education to the Field: How to Collaborate with Farmers and Producers for Student Internships, Class Trips, and Field Studies.” Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education Annual Conference. Full day field session. Karen Fedor, MDA, co-presenter.
March 16, 2013. “Next Generation Science Standards for EE and Farm-Based Education.” Farm-Based Education Spring Gathering. Maryland Ag Ed Foundation and Maryland State Department of Education. Montpelier Farms and Farm-Based Education Network. Gary Hedges, MSDE, co-presenter.
June, 2012. “Connecting Food Systems Science to the School Cafeteria.” Food Services Conference, Maryland State Department of Education. Ocean City, MD.
June, 2012. “Bee-dependent Agriculture and Student Research.” Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Invited Talks
May 26, 2017. “Sacrificial Landscapes and the Domestic War Economy: A Conservation Paradox.” War, Environment, Social Inequality, and Peace Studies. Seville, Spain.
January 29, 2017. “Wings on the Camino de Santiago: A Conservationist’s Walk Across Northern Spain.” Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Maryland, Bel Air, MD.
Oct. 21, 2016. “Sacrificial Landscapes: The Conservation Paradox of 20th Sacrificial Lands and War Economies.” Lecture at Winthrop College, Rock Hall, SC
May 10, 2016. “Russell Lord and the Permanent Agriculture Movement.” Public lecture on dissertation research. Keene, NH.
Academic or Professional Associations
Association for Environmental Sciences and Studies
American Society for Environmental History
European Society for Environmental History
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
Institute for Pilgrimage Studies
Forest History Society