We’re having an uncharacteristicly warm spring this year as the temperature topped 80 degrees again today!  It made for a beautiful day as our homeschool group headed outside to a local farm again. This time is was to an “educational center for sustainability and education and organic farm with sustainable agricultural practices”. The center also runs a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program for low income families. Volunteers and groups like ours help to work the farm.  

 We started off the day with “Farmer Andy” teaching the kids his three rules:

1. Watch your feet – don’t step on plants in the garden and avoid the goose poop. 
2. Wait to be invited – don’t touch anything or eat anything until you’ve been invited to do so. 
3. Use two hands – When you pick a plant in the tasting garden, hold the plant with one hand and pick with other hand. 

Those seemed like acceptable parameters to the crew so he then asked if they would like to see and/or hold some animals.  

 

And by animals, he meant bugs!  Isopods, centipedes, earthworms, slugs. Despite my son’s unwillingness to touch anything in the bins (you can see him there in the blue shirt with his hands behind his back), he did say later this was his favorite part of the day. After letting the kids explore a bit, Andy explained to the kids that these bins were used to let the earthworms create soil for them to use on their organic farm.  

 
We then moved on to a prepared section of the garden and the kids were shown how to plant lettuce starts in the garden. Here DJ is at work with one of his friends.  

 
After everything was planted the kids were given a chance to use the hose or one of three watering pots to water the newly planted lettuce. Of course there was a long line and much negotiation over who got to use the hose! 

 
And with the day being so hot it wasn’t long before it was the kids who were being watered! DJ was soaked from top to bottom but he had a blast doing it.  

   
Then the kids were invited to explore the tasting garden where my son learned (as I would have expected) that he does not like arugula!  But he did enjoy some of the sweeter leafy plants and liked the smell of the mint.