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01 April 2011
Spring has sprouted!!!
This morning at 7am, I hopped on my bike and rode north to the Farm. In the east, a giant golden orb glowed just off of the horizon. The sun was shining, the sky was clear; I had a feeling it was going to be a spectacular day!
Our first camper, Brody arrived ready for Spring Sprout camp session 1 with his adventure boots on and his vibrant curiosity in bloom. Brody encouraged us to explore the labyrinth that winds its away around and alongside the riverbed; we discovered so many treasures along our path, discoveries that lead to questions, which lead to even more discoveries.
Our nature name choices reflected our interests, the theme of the day (soil) and the season. We are collectively: Worm Thinker, Hummingbird, Ecosystem, Bugs, Beez, Vermy Love and Goat Whisperer. The sensory exploration of the farm was filled with wonder, tastes and MUSHROOMS. Worm Thinker named a particularly big and unusually wet mushroom that had fruited up all over the food forest: Big Wet Fish, (Fish because this mushroom has gills similar to a fish).
At one point along the way, we paused, we faced west and got quiet; the breeze was soft, the sun was warm, and the birds were singing. A sun bath in the midst of a food forest was simply delicious.
We made buttons in the cozy nook of an outdoor classroom tucked behind the resource center. Bright, and colorful decorated with our nature name and symbols that capture the essence of our chosen name for the week.
Snack time was a homemade raspberry and oat bar made by one of the amazing members of the Youth Education Branch of Hayes Valley Farm. Juicy with raspberry, and hearty with oats and cinnamon, we snacked and read a great story on worms, prepping our minds and imaginations to learn with Wormologist Booka, who joined us around noon.
We learned all about worms. We felt them, fed them and ripped up paper to soak up the moisture in the bin. We will check on them again on Friday to see how much of what we fed them gets eaten over the course of five days.
In the middle of making compost cake with Janelle Beez, Carla from City Grazing and three new goats arrived for a visit. Three goats in the city!!! These friendly animals, Marley, Elvis and Elmo were a handful, running, jumping and snacking on any and all green stuff they could get their mouths around. Elmo was so soft and Elvis jumped around a lot. When we fed them grains out of the palm of our hand, they licked us at the same time. It was nice to meet goats and to learn about them with Carla!
Lunch time was a picnic in the sun.
The afternoon was rich with community building, gratitude and a celebration of learning with a group visit from Glide Memorial Church's Family, Youth and Childcare Center's 1st and 2nd graders. Our senses exploded with all the shades of green, and rainbows of color blooming on the farm; we were excited by the mazes of garden beds, snails, ladybugs, worms, dark blue beetles, tea tree branches, calendula flowers, chocolate mint that smelled like candy and we laughed a lot finding our inner animal in the late afternoon sun.
I can’t wait for tomorrow…our camp theme is FOOD CRAFTING on the FARM and in the afternoon we'll have another visit from Glide kids, as well as youth from the Harvey Milk Recreation Center's Sustainable Food Systems Camp.
Sprout you tomorrow!
- Lindsey Ecosystem
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Over a thousand volunteers, neighbors, and community members have helped coordinate the farm efforts.