Hello! Long time, no see! Welcome back to another edition of our Farm, Food, Forest blog! We will be looking over weeks 7, 8 and 9 of FFF, so bear with us! There will be lots of content!
First, we will start of with what Story Time has been up to during this time. After Story Time, we will touch on our elementary field days in FFF. Finally, we will check in on the Deltas to see what great projects they have been working on.
Just a reminder: there will be no FFF elementary field day this coming Tuesday, November 17th.
What has Story Time been up to?
Week 7:
This week, we finished up with our time using the cider press borrowed from Shelburne Farms! The Wild Grapes had lots of apples to get through on the last day so we helped Emily make cider while she served the school lunch! We also acted out one of our stories during circle!
We went on our field trip to Audubon to learn about migration, squirrels, and fall seeds. Even though it was cold and rainy, we managed to have fun! We played lots of running games, then did a migration relay race, where we decided which animal pictures belonged into the “migration” bin, and which animal pictures went in to the “stays in VT all year” bin. We also pretended to be squirrels and hid some scorns in the woods. After we hid them, we walked away to do other activities, then cam back later to try and find the acorns we had hidden. Almost every kid was able to find their acorn! Later in the week, we carved pumpkins for our Halloween party. The texture of the pumpkin innards was a little weird at first, but the kids quickly got into it. After they cleaned out the pumpkins, they told the teachers how they wanted the jack-o-lantern faces to look.
Working hard!
Acting out a story during circle!
Enjoying our lunch on the trip to Audubon...
Someone found this skull in a tree! Our questions were: what kind of animal is this? Why was it in the tree?
Week 8:
The weather this week was warm and breezy and amazing. On Monday, we started out making “wind catchers”, and we made predictions about what we would catch on the wind. On Tuesday, we went out on a nature walk to Sally’s woods. We explored the woods, making fire pits, fairy houses, and pretending to be dogs. We were so happy to be sitting outside in the sunny warm weather. Before we headed back to school, we listened to the story of “Stone Soup”. Later in the week, we made a huge apple crisp to contribute to the harvest meal. The kids used their hands to mush up the crumble topping-some were not too thrilled about how the butter made their hands feel greasy. But they were more than happy to taste test when we were done. On Friday we all brought in something to contribute to our stone soup. We had plenty of carrots, potatoes, kale, onions, and some spices from the garden. Almost everyone from our class helped chop the veggies too.
Our "Wind Catchers"!
Spending lots of time outdoors in this beautiful weather!
Sophie helping out with our Stone Soup for the Harvest Celebration!
Sarah Grace helps to put the garden to bed by cutting back our sun choke plants.
Week 9:
We took a trip to Shelburne Beach this week to go nature shopping! We found lots of goodies and enjoyed a story by Sally!
We also worked hard on some animal paintings!
During our trip to Shelburne Beach!
Our beautiful animal paintings!
Sally tells the story of "The Earth on Turtle's Back"...
We are building a tent!
Let's check in with our FFF Elementary Field Days!
Week 7:
Mark's class spent their morning on the farm this week!
Fall and frosty mornings are officially here! Mark's class bundled up and went to the farm today, We got right into moving the chickens to a new area that involved a lot of teamwork and communication because the chickens were being moved to the compost pile behind the greenhouse. We had to make sure the fence was all connected around all of the weeds. Once it was secure we let them out and watched them discover their new surroundings. Some people found old cucumbers and tomatoes buried under brush that we gave to the chickens. We did a chicken breed testing of our knowledge and got them almost all correct! After our fill of chickens we headed over to see and feed the pigs. There was a great big bin of oldish apples that we put in their pen and also we brought them some more mulch hay to nest in. We went the back way over to the cows that had been moved from across the street and were near the pigs now. Some of us went into their pasture to get closer. There were a few that were more interested than others to hang out with us. We got one to get close enough to us and lick us. We then went into one of the greenhouses and got to taste some "volunteer" cilantro that was growing in the spinach beds and a little spinach. The greenhouse felt very warm by then because the sun was shining in and warming it right up! We then headed over to the outside kitchen and some of us prepped apples for applesauce. A few of us were sent to the raised garden beds outside and our task was to pull up all of the sunflower stalks. This activity became very animated and the sunflower stalks turned into various things we had to "destroy". We ended our day on the hay bales for all of our hard work and a yummy treat of fresh bread and butter. Another great day at the farm!
Feeding the pigs!
Well, hello! Need a tissue?
Taste testing cilantro and spinach in the greenhouse...
Jaden digs into the garden. Thanks Jaden!
During this week's FFF, Danielle's class spent their time in the kitchen.
Last week, we spent our time learning about space food and continued our lesson this week! We got to try our dehydrated strawberries and our frozen strawberries and were able to compare them with real freeze-dried strawberries purchased from the grocery store!
After looking at our preservation experiments, we talked a lot about food weight! Just one pound of food costs $10,000 to send to space! We weighed all different types of food to see how much it would cost to send to space! It takes a lot of money to get food to space so it only makes sense that NASA would send food with as little water as possible, not only to make sure it doesn't go bad, but because water is so heavy!
Last, we were able to really get a feel for what eating in space is like! We made space pudding! We mixed together powdered milk, pudding mix and water and ate it from a pouch, which is what NASA packs most of their food in. It was quite the experience!
Here are our dehydrated strawberries!
Here, Betsy, Stella Quincy look at different types of foods and their packaging.
Sending a can of blacks beans would cost $18,000! That is a lot of money for a generally cheap food!
Luke A. enjoys his space pudding like a real astronaut...
The Alphas spent their morning in the woods!
This past Tuesday with the Alphas was an AMAZING morning! Not only was the weather that quintessential fall day (sunny, cool, and clear), but the kiddos were full of energy, joy, and curiosity!
We started off by gathering in the sun and noticing all the frost on the ground. We heard about the Shrike that was seen that morning at the farm, a white bird with a black mask that impales its food on thorns and sharp objects in order to better eat, and then made our way into the wooded path to each look for 5 sharp leaves and 5 smooth leaves. We collected a huge pile! We noticed many of the smooth-lobed white oak leaves around and were on a serious hunt for any sharp-lobed red oak leaves!
As soon as we entered Turkey Field we noticed off in the distance….a FAMILY of turkeys running away from us very quickly! We ran as fast as we could across the frosty line of grass into the warm (wet!) grass lit by the sun. There, out came Tippy Tap and we got to be birds! We each mimed and acted out different adventures that birds experience every day….like feeding their babies, collecting nesting materials, or seeing predators in the sky above.
And would you believe it….while out in the field a SHRIKE flew over us! What a surprise! We ALSO started to see RED OAK leaves, the ones with the pointy lobes.
We made our way to the entrance of the woods and asked if we could enter. Usually we say:
“Hello forest!
The Alphas are here.
We know you’re busy, and we know you’re full of magic.
We won’t be here for long.
May we enter?”
It’s a nice way for us to pause and give respect and gratitude for the forest, for the home, we’re about to enter. Tippy Tap began to play his beats, so we knew we had been told we could enter. We made our way to base camp, Fallen Oak, and ate our snacks while we heard the story, Owl and The Acorns that told us a legend about why Red oak leaves are pointy and have bitter acorns and why White oak leaves have smooth lobes and sweet acorns. During explore time some of us played on Fallen Oak while some of us helped make a fire. We used birch bark and the dry lower dead twigs of evergreen trees for kindling and then larger dry sticks to get the fire roaring. Some of us got to work on our fairy houses and some of us found special spots where it looked like mice had been stashing and eating acorns! You can tell mice were eating them because there were little teeth marks and holes in the nuts. We even saw a mouse run up a tree when we were singing later with Toby the Ukulele! We worked more on our song, “Oh the Clouds” and then went around the circle to give gratitude before leaving the woods for the day. What an AWESOME morning!
Starting out on our forest adventures!
Doing some more work mining which has been a project all Autumn!
We are warming up by the fire.
Testing our balance skills on this fallen tree...
Week 8:
During week 8, Danielle's class was on the farm!
Amazing weather and what a great crew of farm helpers! It does not feel like November at all and we all embraced it. Our first huge task was to move the chickens. First we had to round them up. They did not want to go inside ( do you blame them on such a BEAUTIFUL day? ) We got all of them in except Eagle the chicken and continued with our next step. We then had to move the coop on its' rollers first towards the East and then to the North. This took some coordinating with when and where to push and listening really well to our 'commander' Corie. She wanted the chickens to still have access to the compost pile which they loved but we had to make sure the coop had a level place to sit. We had to move the flexing once and then move the coop again before placing the fence in its' final spot. We let the chickens out and they loved their new space! Now we got to do some chicken handling that we were all excited to do. Corie tested our chicken breed knowledge, ( do you know the breeds yet?) before moving on to pig chores. We slopped the pigs and gave them more nesting hay. We then had snack before our last farm chores. We needed to help prepare apples for applesauce for the Harvest Dinner and make butter for the dinner too. There was washing apples, cutting apples for the sauce. For the butter we had to put cream into a jar and use all our shaking muscles to turn the cream into whipped cream and then eventually into butter. All of our arm and shoulder muscles are feeling it! We had some fresh bread and store bought butter( the other butter is for the Harvest Dinner!) on our way back to school. Such hard workers today!
Chopping apples for applesauce...
Corie tests our chicken knowledge!
Working hard to move the chicken coop!
Making butter for the Harvest Celebration!
This morning, the Alphas were in the kitchen!
We spent a lot of time this morning getting ready for our Harvest Celebration. We made apple scrap jelly to pair with our bread and butter from Bread and Butter! We practiced our peeling, coring and chopping skills and used the scraps to make the jelly. We saved the apples for the Deltas to use to make apple crisp for the celebration.
Additionally, we used our creativity and memories of the farm and forest to make decorations for the celebration! There were lots of mushrooms, leave and farm animals!
We also helped chef Zach make lunch for the school this morning!
Here we are about to put our apple scraps on the stove to boil in water and release the natural pectin that occurs in apples. The pectin is what makes our jelly, jelly!
Students watch as chef Zach demonstrates chopping onion.
Lemon juice is one of the ingredients for our apple scrap jelly.
Mark's class spent their FFF time in the forest.
WOW! Every single morning in the forest thus far has been a truly fantastic experience! Omega-Sage was back this morning for an epically-summer-like day today! We began by all sitting in the direction that best corresponded with our energy that morning:
NORTH- Quiet,
EAST- Alert, Awake
SOUTH- Energized, Focused
WEST- Calm, Peaceful
From there we set off toward Turkey Field which lived up to its name today…the turkey family was out and about! We played one of FFF’s new favorite games, “Hiders and Seekers” in which hiders aim to blend in with the forest next to the forest path while seekers walk the path trying to spy them; think Where’s Waldo forest style. This activity always allows us to practice honing in on our keen eyesight and subtle movement while at the same time, recognizing that slowing down can sometimes be just the thing we need to best become a part of our environment.
Each Omega-Sage was then challenged to make their own unique way to Fallen Oak base camp, all the while listening to the sound of the drum Tippy Tap (and of course having some guidance if needed). It was epic to look into the woods and see the kids jumping and sleuthing their way over stumps, logs, and through the branches.
We all, very quickly I might add, made it to base camp where we then began to explore! Omega-Sage has truly earned our respect and trust in their ineractions with one another and with the forest, thus we felt excited to expand base camp boundaries exponentially! Some folks worked on making live traps using acorns as bait, while others explore the tops of trees. Some chose to sit in the log circle and whittle while others chose to look into the surrounding base camp mushrooms. Omega-Sage is extremely resourceful and creative when it comes to focusing on a task and building needed tools in the woods. Soon enough it was time to gather back together to talk about our medicine bundles. If you didn’t already know, this year we are working to create personal medicine bundles. In many native cultures, these bundles were worn at all times and were often filled with personal, meaningful, and/or symbolic items such as bones, herbs, berries, fur, or feathers simply to represent things such as protection , strength, or health. We’re super excited to see what folks decide to put in their bundle.
After an extremely zen and sunny sit spot experience we all packed up and returned to school. Thank you SO much Omega-Sage! And if you’re curious to know more about sit spot, talk to your local FFF kiddo.
Mapping out our energy this morning...
Finding our way to base camp!
Hanging out with everyone's favorite fallen tree...
Rose found quite the perch spot!
Week 9:
What were the Tau Omega's up to on the farm this week?
Another Tuesday that had incredible weather! We got to the farm with lots of energy and Corie circled us up to let us know the plan for the day. We had some chores to do but she also wanted to make sure we got some free time on the hay bales because last week we were so busy prepping for the Harvest Meal we did not have time. We headed over to the chickens and easily rounded them all up to them move their coop to the next compost area. We are getting to be pros at all of this teamwork so we were able to move the coop and fencing in no time. We got some quality time holding the chickens and then we did some observations on how the chickens were behaving. Corie had us imagine something coming from outer space and they had never seen chickens. We had to describe very deliberately to think of words that would help tell how the chickens were acting. We thought of words like pecking, running, digging/scratching, waddling. We then went to feed the pigs apples and bring them more bedding hay. They were't that interested in the apples but some of them wanted to get their bellies rubbed. They lay down in front of us and waited for the massaging to start. We then washed our hands for snack which included bread and butter of course! After snack we headed in to the greenhouse and did some taste testing of scallions, swiss chard, cilantro, parsley and kale. Corey found some lettuce that had gone to seed or bolted. Some of us tried it and it was very bitter! We ended our day on the big hay bales and we also had a chance to sit on one of the tractors nearby. We will be back to the farm soon!
Everyone works hard to move the chicken coop to a fresh space for all of our hens!
Spending some quality time with the pigs...
Tosh, Henry and Quincy enjoying a taste test!
The hay bales are a great place to play.
This week, the Alphas spent their time in the Kitchen!
We have focused a lot of preservation in the kitchen this fall, making jelly, dehydrated foods and drying herbs.
What would be better to add to our collection of projects than pickling?
We used two different methods to pickle cucumbers and pumpkin.
If you remember, earlier this fall the Alphas started a batch of apple scrap vinegar and it has been processing in the kitchen since. Today, after Emily and Zach tested the pH to make sure it was acidic enough, we were able to use the vinegar to pickle cucumbers! We sliced the cucumbers into our favorite pickle shape and combined our vinegar, sugar, salt and water to make a pickle brine.
Some of us made some really beautiful labels for our pickle jars, making sure to include what they were and a date so that everyone would know when they were made.
After jarring and attaching our labels, we put our soon-to-be pickles into the fridge. This method is called "refrigerator pickling" and will only take about a week compared to regular pickling which takes about a month or more and must go through a true canning process, which we didn't have quite enough time for. We will serve our pickles during hot lunch so the whole school can taste test them.
Next, we pickled pumpkins, but used an entirely different method. This time, oil was used instead of vinegar to preserve our food of choice. We cut open our pumpkins, removed the seeds, peeled them and sliced them into cubes. We cooked our pumpkins in a frying pan with oil and a spice blend we made with chef Zach. We did not actually can this pickle recipe. Instead, we taste tested it at the end of our kitchen session and served it during lunch!
Lastly, Nari took some of us out the garden and we harvested lots of cabbage from her garden! There was a lot of it!
Aurelia helps Zach with our pumpkin pickle.
Orion's reaction to taste the apple scrap vinegar!
Almost finished with our refrigerator pickles!
Some of the beautiful cabbage we harvested from the garden!
The Omega Sages were in the forest again this week!
Wow…I know I say this every time, but spending the morning in the forest with the Schoolhouse kids is truly amazing! And what a sunny crisp day it was!
When Omega-Sage arrived we got right into our first challenge of the day. Everyone received a slip of paper with a task on it, namely: “Find something strong” or “Find something rough” or “Find something short” all the while not able to talk to each other. Then, still not having spoken, they had to group themselves into three groups according to the items they found. It was a fascinating moment, when we did finally speak, to see the variety of objects that people clumped into the same group. Some people with rough objects found themselves in the group of other strong objects, and some with short objects ended up with other rough objects. In other words, this activity proved to us that perspective is key. We all experience and see the world in slightly different ways, looking at things with different knowledge and backgrounds.
Next we transitioned over to Turkey Field and on the way we went back to check on the large abandoned wasp nest we had seen last week. This turned out to be the PERFECT segue into our talk about tracking and stalking. We spent the next little while trying to identify who may have destroyed the nest since we had last been there…checking for scat, fur, tracks. We followed the surrounding game tracks, bending down trying to feel for hoof prints, and indents in the soil. En route we found a bunch of little vole and mole holes. Omega-Sage really got deep into the story here, wondering if the nest had been weathered away, could it have been a bear? A bird? They got super down into every detail. This was yet another moment when nothing turned out to be black and white; rather, everything has a story.
Afterward, we tested our sixth senses playing Wooly Bear-Robin, during which the wooly bear in the center of the circle is blindfolded and must detect who, from the surrounding circle, is staring them down, sending all the energy they can muster into the center! Students got to test themselves further when we stalked one another from behind. The goal was to spin around as soon as you felt someone was behind you. There were some great tactics used like fox walking (walking as silently/conscientiously as possible) and even running forward upon the “stalkee” at the last moment. With our sixth senses fully charged, we all found our way to Fallen Oak taking our own route and met up for free explore time. Many of us worked long and hard to get a fire going with an awesome flint and steel technique shown to us by Hart. So many people played a role whether it was harvesting milkweed pods as tinder, finding the ever elusive birch bark, or gathering and breaking the proper kindling. On the very last try, the fire finally came alive. Folks roasted some fruit while others continued to mine away at the base of fallen oak, unearthing fungus and rocks. A fantastic Sit Spot came upon us soon enough and then finally, Gratitude Circle. I am EPICALLY grateful for time spent out in the forest with you all!
Bekah and Geo check out leftover honey comb from some bee friends...
This warm, sunny November weather has been so nice!
Practicing fire starting...
We pose for the camera and capture the fire too!
Finally, let's check in with the Deltas to see what projects they have been working on for the last couple of weeks!
We took a field trip to Champlain Orchards! We were given a tour, did a taste test, and had the opportunity to meet the Jamaican migrant workers at the orchard. Andrea, one of the owners, talked to us all about how the orchard is managed and how they picked all of their apples.
We spent time in the kitchen cooking for the Delta pot luck. There were so many apples recipes, including apple cake and apple turnovers. We worked in pairs to create these items. This was the culminating activity for our unit on apples.
In the forest, we worked on a run/walk circuit with Guido, who has been teaching us about running this Fall. We have also checked out other forests to compare with the forest at Bread and Butter that we frequent.
On the farm, Corie has taught us how to use a scythe in order to cut down tall grass and clear a spot for our plot we are creating! We also spread large hay bales as the base level of our new garden plot. The process were are using is called "Lasagna Gardening." This process involves layering materials such as hay, wood chips or leave mixed with compost in order to create very healthy soil. Because the soil at Bread and Butter has high levels of clay, we are trying to make a plot that will be easier to grow in. This will also serve as a great resource to study soil science once it is done!
We have also been working on some solo projects, including studies of the chickens and pigs where we observe, record or sketch what we find.
Champlain Orchards!
Doing a taste test....
Andrew talks to use about the orchard...
Corie shows us the different parts of the scythe, talks about what we will use it for and how.
Calvin Jordan gets used to using this tool, look at everything we have cleared already!
Getting started rolling out our hay bales...
Logan and Calvin have their own sit spots to observe the chickens.
Erik gets a close up of the pigs.
Hanging out in the forest!
Finally, thank you to everyone who turned out for our Harvest Celebration!
Here are just a few shots of our dinner!
Bekah is ready at our welcome table!
Somehow we managed to fit around 180 people in our gym! Wow!
Eager eaters!
A shot of chef Zach's baked pumpkin pakora...yummy!
Charlie waits for some stone soup made by our Story Timers!
Digging in!
Smile for the camera!
A great candid shot!
Thank you!
