This article addresses the need to integrate experiential learning into environmental and sustainability curriculum and considers the challenges faced by academic institutions in providing relevant experiential learning opportunities at an appropriate scale. Through an experiential case study, this article illustrates how adopting a "hybrid approach" served to expand traditional perception and infrastructure at Dalhousie University, Faculty of Agriculture, while affording graduate students a space for developing knowledge through the experience of doing. This article discusses the barriers and presents the methodology used to achieve a paradigm shift. This overcomes traditional approaches and could be duplicated for infrastructure transformation into active laboratories for the provision of experiential learning tools for environmental education programs.