Tuesday - Bug Day

The theme for day two was insects and spiders. We had a super active day thanks to the much cooler weather. We harvested cucumbers, dill, and flowers for our farm chores. We learned all about the importance of beneficial insects on our farm (including pollination and predation of harmful bugs that eat our plants.)  We then hunted for bugs using magnifying boxes and identified them with our Good Bug / Bad Bug charts. After that, our captured bugs faced intense competition in several bug races. (All contestants were set free.) After lunch, the Willows listened to stories and made flower jewelry, while the Oaks made refrigerator dill pickles in the tasting room. We rounded off the day with group games and water play.

 Wednesday - Tomato Day

Wednesday was tomato day at farm camp. We harvested the first of our delicious heirloom tomatoes and did a taste comparison with the Willows class (the Super Sweet Cherry variety won top marks.) The Oaks class turned their harvest into pico de gallo which they enjoyed with homemade corn tortillas. Other highlights included sun tea making, hiking the hills where the cows roam, picnic lunching, fort building, frog catching, game playing, and slip’n sliding. I bet everyone slept well that night!

 Thursday - Color Day

Thursday was a celebration of plant colors. After our farm chores (which includes chicken petting, of course!) the Oaks class harvested zinnias and orange cosmos for our tie-dye project. We also picked edible flowers like calendula, borage and verbena to make delicious flower confetti canapés. The Willows class learned the art of flower pounding where they transferred color from plants onto cloth using a wooden dowel. The afternoon hike with the Oaks class included the discovery of a full deer skeleton! More games and water fun at the end of the day.

Friday - Plant Medicine Day

The theme for Friday was plant medicine, so the Willows class made herbal tea bags. They also made flower crowns and played a game illustrating the connection between sunshine and plants. The Oaks class visited our honeybee hives after listening to the story of Scout the Bee. They also made herbal tea blends with Ms. Tammy from tulsi, lavender and calendula harvested from our farm. They also got to make and sample herbal sodas and had a thoughtful discussion on the amount of sugar in a typical can of soda. After another active hiking and fort building session, we all gathered back for some well-deserved water (and mud) play. We also finished our cosmos tie dye project which came out beautifully. 

Phew!! We made it to the end of our first farm camp week! Thank you to all our amazing teachers and assistants for making this week such a success.  And thank you, dear parents, for make the drive to the farm each day and sharing your adventurous kids with us. We all had a blast!!