Week 3 Update - Mr. Austen’s Explorers

Week Three on the farm highlighted the many living things that make up our biodynamic environment and the ways in which they all interact as a closed, diversified ecosystem.

For this week's opening circle, we shared our favorite fruit and/or vegetable and discussed what differentiates a fruit from a vegetable (ask your kiddo - the main difference is, if it comes from a flower, it's a fruit! If it's a leaf, stem or root - that's a veggie). Grapes and carrots seem to be the class favorites :)

After a rousing game of "Blind Samurai" - a game of tag with a twist in which the "Samurai" is blindfolded, encouraging them to utilize their spatial awareness and sense of hearing in order to vanquish their foes, while the other students must use their "Fox Feet" (have them show you) in order to avoid the Samurai's "sword."

Before the heat set in, we took to the field to harvest some lettuce, kale and spinach. These cold season vegetables will soon be unavailable, so we made a delicious garden salad and added some apples, oranges and bananas for a lovely snack.

We then proceeded to the hoop house to gather trowels for our next activity - digging for earthworms! Worms are a vital part of our farm - digging tunnels that loosen up the soil for little seedling roots to poke through and leaving their nutrient rich castings behind to feed the growing plants. We learned how worms breathe (through their skin), and how many hearts they have (5!) Ask your kiddo if they remember either of these fun facts about our wriggly companions.

Next up was the highlight of the day, as the students were introduced to our new flock of baby chicks. As a farm that practices regenerative agriculture, livestock are a crucial piece of our operation. We use their manure in our compost for supplemental nitrogen, and when these chicks are big enough to leave their brooder we'll send them out to pasture where they'll forage for insects and in doing so, gently turn the soil to make way for next season's crops. We learned that the chicks don't have feathers quite yet, only down and therefore require an external heat source. It will be so fun to observe how these chicks grow throughout this session - by the final session they'll be nearly full grown!

After lunch we began a fun craft - bead worms. While the students perfected their artistic creations we expanded on our hands-on learning from earlier with a reading of "Yucky Worms," a heartwarming lesson about the important role our squirmy friends play in soil development.

We spent the last part of the day free playing - using our imaginations to engage with the living world around us. It was a fun-filled, action-packed day and I can't wait til next week when we encounter our "Insect Friends and Foes!"

Quote of the day: "You know, sometimes ‘bad guys’ are really just sad guys." - Lucy, Age 4. The wisdom of children never ceases to amaze me.

Mr. Austen