By: Jackie, Arsema, Bessie, Neva, Vivienne, Molli, Zoë C., Hanan, Jordan, Camille, Sloane, Zoe B. and Imogen
A few weeks ago, the fifth graders spent three days at Farm School. We did chores and farm work in groups where we took care of animals, cooked, or were busy doing other farm work. This description is all about what we did at Farm School. We hope you enjoy it!
The Bunkhouse
The Bunkhouse was where we stayed. We ate, slept, and played there. At choice time we were able to play games, such as, Jenga, Spot it, and Bananagrams. Some of us did Origami. (R.I.P. Jeremy and Jerry, they’re paper cranes.) Other than choice time, we had Evening Routines time where we played a Rock Paper Scissor Tournament (FYI, Ms. Stewart won) and Charades.
The Girls and Boys had different bunk rooms. The girls played bunk tag and had a broadway show where they shut the lights off and flashed flashlights on the singers and dancers as spot lights. The girls interviewed some of the boys to ask what they did. According to the boys, they played tag, did some Guinea Pig Olympics, and played Keep Away Kirby. (FYI Kirby is a stuffed animal.)
Kitchen and the Garden
In the kitchen, the kids got to cook for the whole grade, teachers and the farmers. When we were in the kitchen a farmer helped us cook the meals. Some of the meals we cooked were stuffed shells, lamb, chicken and rice, pancakes, tortillas, greens, parsnips, beans, eggs, oatmeal and farm yogurt! They all were very delicious! As you can see in most of the pictures everyone who is cooking had to wear a bandana and apron to be clean and sanitary.
In the Green House (we call Paradise), we drummed and sang songs as we planted seeds. In the greenhouse they grew cilantro, spinach, chickweed and many more plants. Also, the garden is called paradise because it is surprisingly 80 degrees there! (At least, when it’s not very cold outside.)
The Animals
On the farm there were many animals. Some of our favorites were the cats and dogs. The cats and dogs had jobs just like the farmers. The cats’ job was to hunt for rodents like mice. They made sure that no little creatures ate our food, ate our crops or got into the bunkhouse. We even saw a cat catch a mouse! The dogs’ job was to herd animals back to their stables if they were to escape. One of the dogs, Gus, came right onto the bus when we arrived.
There were many other animals at the farm as well. The pigs, goats and chickens were a big hit all around. The pigs ate grain pellets and drank milk from the cows. They also loved chewing on things. They always chewed on our shoelaces. The goats names were Bunny, Fiona, Fleur, Fallisha, and Fudge. We took the goats for a walk in the woods. They loved eating pine and black birch trees. We also loved the chickens. They laid all different colored eggs. We even found some blue and green ones. Once we gathered the eggs we then had to sand them to make them smooth.
The Barn
In the barn we took care of the cows, cleaned the stables, and hung out with the horses. We groomed the cows with special brushes and hooked them into their stables so they could eat. We cleaned the hay for the cows too. We also saw the horses! Their names are King and Tom. Some of the cows' names are Indigo, Moofasa, Phoenix, Purple-Rain and Pickle. On the last day, everyone who didn’t get to milk a cow earlier, got the option to milk Phoenix the cow! There was also the hayloft. In the hayloft were stacks of hay. The hayloft was on the upper floor of the barn. We got to push the hay down to the first floor through a large opening!
Wild and Forestry Chores
Wild was one of our Farm Chores. We mostly went on nature walks and played games like Camouflage. Once, we even got to roll down a hill! We even got to tap trees the Thursday we were there! Using a drill, we made a two-inch long hole. We inserted the tap and hammered it in (which was frustrating), and then hung the bucket from it. According to Imogen, sap is delicious!
Forestry was part of Farm Work. We stacked a bunch of wood and chopped wood using a wedge and mallet. To split wood, one person held the block of wood that was going to be chopped and the other person chopped it by hammering a wedge that they stuck into the wood. To stack wood, we formed assembly lines and one time we had to pry frozen chunks of wood apart and off the ground!
We hope all younger students are excited for Farm School now!