Wednesday was our first day on the farm. Mr. Raj took a group to Charlestown Farm, Mr. Mark took a group to Kimberton, and Ms. Caitlin took a group to Sankanac.
At Kimberton, the group worked hard on Wednesday. They harvested lettuce that had bolted to seed. Some people harvested dill that had also surpassed its useful life. They brought all of the bad produce to the compost pile so it would be recycled. Dallas worked exceptionally hard as he did half a row himself! Everybody made a great effort.
On Wednesday at Sankanac, the group spent time "thinning out lettuce." They met Sebastian, the farmer, who encouraged them to work carefully with the lettuce. Thinning out the lettuce went smoothly as everyone did their best to work diligently.
On Thursday at Kimberton, Mr. Greg's group pulled out old cabbages and composted them. The kids got to ride in the truck to the compost pile. Towards the end of their work day, Eliana and Darius pulled a weed picker through the ground. When they arrived back at the Garden Building, they were the muddiest group by far! They sure did some hard work.
On Thursday at Charlestown, Ms. Laura's group spent time picking the thistle out of the strawberries. They could see the progress they were making as they did this, which encouraged them to work hard. Liz Anderson gave the group permission to eat some strawberries as it is almost the end of strawberry season! Yum!
On Thursday at Sankanac, the group learned to harvest carrots. Some of the boys and Sheniah were exceptionally good at this while others weeded lettuce which was to be harvested that day.
Aside from farmwork, the group has enjoyed some indoor time. Mr. Raj spent Wednesday afternoon teaching financial skills while Ms. Caitlin led teambuilding activities.
While with Ms. Caitlin, the group had 15 minutes to build the tallest towers they could out of legos. They were then told to destroy their towers, and had only two minutes to rebuild the tallest towers they could. The groups who were most successful spent their first 15 minutes planning, rather than simply building the highest towers they could. One group had a tower of 4'7", the tallest by far of the day! The next highest towers were about 2'7" high. Jacob led his group to a tie with Hannah's group in one round. In the next round, Niri was the "assembler" of her team, which allowed each group member to build small sections which she attached together to make her group's very high tower. The groups learned the importance of communication and working together.
Thursday was also the first day of cooking. Yvonne and Denise came to help the youth make salsa. The salsa was quite tasty, and was a summery fresh version full of green peppers.
All in all, it was a great two days before the long weekend!
