Renae Writes: Farm Day Camps
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:50AM 
Renae takes a break to hang out with Jessie in the watefall garden at the winery.I didn’t always know I wanted to be a farmer. Before I discovered my love for planting seeds in the soil, tending to the crops and providing people with the bounties of the earth, I worked in another line of work—as an educator, planting seeds in children. I’ve worked in preschools, elementary schools, outdoor environmental camps, and as a nanny. After working in such a diversity of educational environments, I have found the one environment where I most enjoy teaching: the farm.
Since I am a kinesthetic learner myself, it is easy for me to understand how important it is, especially for children, to be physically engaged in their learning. It is as simple as a child holding a seed, placing that seed in the soil, watering the seed, watching the seed grow into a plant, and in the end, seeing that plant end up on their plate as something to eat! Something we do every day in order to survive!
I believe that bridging the gap between children and the food they eat will be the keystone to the health of future generations. I love helping children make the connections between what they eat and where it comes from. I love helping them see the beautiful simplicity of the natural processes of growing food. I want them to see the production of food as it was meant to be, as a natural process that begins in the earth. My goal is to show them an alternative to mechanically engineered food from factory farms, to processed food-like substances that can hardly be recognized as food! My hope is that in the future this sort of experiential education will influence them to actively participate in their food consumption decisions—and to make those decisions wise ones!
Although a two-hour session will not allow your child to experience the entire process of watching a seed grow into a plant, your child will get to see all the parts of that process in various stages. They will see broccoli seeds, seedlings, mature plants, and plants that have gone to flower, beginning to make seed for the next cycle. They will look at the life cycle of lettuce and carrot plants, and get a chance to harvest some of these crops when they are in their prime. Walking through the orchard, visiting the goats, chickens and cattle, making their way up to the vegetable fields will provide discussion about the diversity Sunshine Farm has to offer. Farm Camp sessions this summer will include a variety of topics: plant and animal life cycles, the different parts and purposes of a plant’s “body”, composting with worms, what it takes to “grow” a pizza, and exploring with vegetable art. Your child will go home with a small bag crops they harvest themselves, an understanding that a carrot is the root of the plant, and maybe even with a willingness to try new vegetables at dinner that night!
For more information, and to register online, click here.
Students from Manson Elementary head down to the barn after touring the vegetable fields.
