YMCA camp visits the farm

At 9:30 this morning about 35 kids grades kindergarten through 5th hopped out of a big yellow school bus at our farm. The children are enrolled in the Northfield YMCA Navigator Summer Camp. This unique program takes students on lots of field trips in the area, many of which happen to be farms. The kids had already visited a dairy farm and STOGROW before visiting our farm so they arrived well equipped for a morning in the mud.

We started the tour with a walk to the bees and talked about the importance of pollination along the way. The students had lots of interesting bee facts to add to the conversation – Chelsea and I probably learned more from them than they did from us. For example, did you know that it takes 12 bees their entire lifetime (which for honeybees is about two months) two produce just one tablespoon of honey? Neither did we.

Next, we had prepared a vegetable identification game. We split the kids into small groups and gave them funky vegetables like kohlrabi, rutabaga, sunburst pattypan squash, etc and had them try to name the vegetable, identify what part of the plant it comes from (ie. root, flower, leaf, fruit, etc), and how they would eat it. When we finished discussing the vegetables, we traipsed through the garden to see how the vegetables grow in the ground.

Noel was already familiar with the farm - she and her family are community farmers and come out on a weekly basis to help plant, weed and harvest. Noel even taught some of the other students how to hold a chicken.

The chickens were very popular. The kids loved the new game Chelsea and I have been playing lately: smashing up overlarge summer squash and zucchini and feeding it to the chickens. The chickens were surprisingly receptive to all the attention. We spent about a half hour petting, holding and feeding the chickens while we talked about raising poultry.

Kids from the Northfield YMCA Navigator Camp visited the farm this morning and enjoy snacking on some freshly harvested baby carrots.

To end the field trip, we had harvested and washed some tender young carrots thinned from the garden. It was fun sharing a delicious, nutritious snack together. Hopefully we can arrange to have more camps and groups of students like this come out next summer. We really love the inquisitive, enthusiastic energy that they brought to the farm.

Squeaky Wheel the cat showed up this morning. We heard her yowling from the bushes near the compost pile and enticed her out with a can of cat food. She's sweet company, even if her voice is a little whiny! Look for her next time you're out at the farm.