Edgar's Mission

Youth Takeover Edgars Mission Project

Edgar's Mission is a not-for-profit farmed animal sanctuary that seeks to create a humane and just world for all. At any one time, the farm oasis in Lancefield is home to 350-450 formerly farmed pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, roosters, geese, turkeys, goats, and donkeys, plus the occasional cat and dog. For the past eight weeks, it was also the home base for our latest Youth Take Over project.

Edgar's Mission has always wanted to carve out a space in the Sanctuary to remember animal residents who have passed away and honour the bond between them and their sanctuary carers. But with so much work to do around the Sanctuary, the project kept getting pushed back. Enter Youth Take Over. We recruited eight interns to respond to this challenge, led by the team from Pollen Studio, a local landscape architecture studio specialising in creating landscapes that tell a story.

Edgar's Mission briefed the team on their vision for the memorial garden, and the interns set about making it a reality. Guided by Pollen staff and guest mentors, they learnt about all aspects of landscape architecture – from plant selection and costing to considerations around light, drainage, and maintenance – and applied these learnings to their design. The interns also immersed themselves in the Sanctuary, learning about its mission, operations, and roles, and meeting all the animals! They did so with an investigative lens, noting the important features of the landscape and understanding the bond between volunteers, staff, and their animal friends to represent it in the memorial garden later. Throughout this process, our interns truly became a landscape design team of their own as they worked with Pollen to transform their ideas into an action plan.

When it was time for the young people to present the final design to the Edgar's Mission team, each intern took turns speaking to a different element in the blueprints, explaining their careful reasoning behind their choices. The response was incredible – Edgar's Mission approved the plan, and their feedback was overwhelmingly positive. This is a testament to the interns' ability to work as a team, listen and share ideas, and work in a collaborative and dynamic workplace setting.

Lewis H-W from Gisborne Secondary College had the opportunity to participate in the Youth Take project at Edgars Mission in Lancefield. He said: “The best thing about the program was working as a group to come up with the design of the memorial garden. All our individual ideas were used in a plan for the garden which will be used by Edgars Mission staff and visitors to reflect on the lost lives of animals who lived on the farm.” The garden will be built October 19th with the help of Woodend Rotary, Mount William Tree Nursery, and Pollen Landscape Architects.

Youth Takeover and Kathy Gossip