Week 7 Update - Young Farmers

Yes indeed, it was REALLY cold today! The temperature didn’t get much higher than 35, but we still had an excellent day. We joined up with Mr. Braden‘s class, where he taught us how to build a fire with less-than-dry wood. We then carved roasting sticks for marshmallows and enjoyed some wonderful s’mores. We kept the camp fire going all day while we learned about local animal life, and how to improve our chances of viewing it by increase our “sphere of awareness” while decreasing our “sphere of disturbance.” We learned different skills for doing this such as “owl eyes” (increased peripheral vision), “deer ears” (enhanced hearing), and “fox feet” (quiet & controlled locomotion.) We followed up with a game of Monarchs and Viceroys, which challenges us our peripheral vision. Lunch included herbal tea brewed over the coals.

Ms Micha’s class came over after lunch to join us in one of our favorite wilderness games called “Life and Death in the Forest.“ This an active and complex role playing game which teaches the basics of ecology and the role of omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores in a food web. The course today covered the entire dry creek and all the land between my our classroom and Mr. Braden’s, and involved plenty of running, tagging, hiding, and seeking. What a great way to keep our bodies warm! The game, and the day, ended too soon, though I’m sure we were all glad to get back into our cozy houses.

Definitely looking forward to more spring-like weather next week.

Warmly (pun-intended),
Ms. Bridget

P.S. Registration for our Spring Semester is NOW open. The semester will start on March 25th. Be sure to sign up soon to hold your space.