Written by Liz | 02 May 2011

Spring Sprout Camp may be behind us, but we chronicled all the wonderful and joyful experiences so we could share them with all of you. If you'd like to experience all the wonder at Hayes Valley Farm, register here to join Summer Camp Clover! 

Making A Magic Ginger Soda On The Farm Today… 
by Casey Gold

… was our joyous chant as we gathered in the outdoor kitchen of Hayes Valley Farm, brewing the sweet concoction of Chamomile Ginger Soda. Day two of SpringSprout Camp took FOOD CRAFTING to a whole ‘nother level, as song and dance infused our culinary activities of the day.

The morning sunshine was brilliant on the north side of the farm, where we set up our kitchen workspace for the day. Before beginning our food craftery, the camper calling himself ‘Worm Thinker’ led me to revisit the eucalyptus labyrinth across from the green house. I can tell this will be our morning ritual for the week. We made a point to elicit new observations that had not been voiced on our previous day’s walk- new bamboo stick amongst the mulch, fine tuning of the pallet bridge, an opportunity to detour down the Hickory Street stream.

Our first adventure of the day was to make cheese! We brought 2 liters of Strauss Organic Whole Milk to an almost-boil, then added salt to taste, rosemary and sage to savor, and lemon juice to curdle the milk. Within a few short minutes, cheese-like proteins began to emerge, and we were ready to strain. We poured the mixture through double layered cheese cloth and caught our precious product on top. Cinched it up, tied it to a tree, and waited 2 hours for our cheese to come to fruition. Cheese making is a simpler process than I thought, and so rewarding! Please inquire with the Youth Education Branch of HVF for more information on cheese making workshops.

Brian the Brewer arrived by 9, as did campers ‘Bugs’ and ‘Banana Slug.’ “I choose Banana Slug as my nature name,” she said, “because when I was younger, I shared a slimy kiss with a slug!” Brian set up his portable brew kit in our homey kitchen, and I began lighting the cob oven for the lunchtime feast to come. During Winter Wonderfarm, Brian made homestyle root beer with our campers. This time around, Brian decided on a recipe of chamomile ginger soda infused with star anise and coriander. What a magical fusion of flavor, and what a beautiful explosion of color!

I am proud to say that my first cob oven fire was wildly successful. By the time Brian wrapped up with the brew, the oven fire had been blazing for over almost 2 hours and we were ready to harvest our veggies for the pizza party. Behold! Kale, tree collards, fennel, cabbage, and purple broccoli covered our homemade pizza dough. Worm Thinker said “It’s like eating the rainbow,” which indicates a healthy variety of nutrients in our meal. Our pizzas were delicious, and our step dance to follow was truly a treat! We gleaned practices of step dance from Lindsey Ecosystem, Zuri Banana Slug, and Aubrea Bugs; we were clappin slappin and stompin all over the mulch! We even created a new step dance to the tune of farming, which we performed for the parents when they arrived at 2pm.

Our last leg of the food crafting journey included a citrus tasting, wherein 13 varieties of citrus were examined using our senses of sight, smell, touch, and taste. We love to call upon our senses at Hayes Valley Farm, and enjoying organic fruit in season was the perfect occasion for it. Tomorrow is WATER day at the farm, and I look forward to connecting my senses to the liquid life that covers 70% of our earth’s surface.

The Wonders of Water and Cultivating Creativity in Community…
by Lindsey Goldberg

…were the themes that guided our exploration during day 3 and 4 of Spring Sprout Camp!

Water is a truly wonderful and precious resource. It makes up 70% of our bodies, and about 70% of the earth. All animals, vegetables, fruits, flowers, trees, insects, and soil depend on it. Appreciating (and conserving) water is something we can all do more of in our daily lives!

We hiked around the farm with water in mind, exploring pathways, garden beds, ponds in the making, and fruit trees that are influenced by their relationship to water.

Adding a little water to pigment, we played with the possibilities of moving colored water around on our parchment paper, making beautiful images of our favorites things on the farm.

Inspired by a discussion about the water cycle, we danced our way through the cycle from clouds meeting in the sky, full of rain, to rain falling on the earth, to rain meeting the ocean, and rising back up into the sky as evaporation…

After making our own trail mix from a delightful array of nuts and dried fruits, we settled in for a Dr. Seuss classic, “Oh the places you’ll go!"  

…Just as we were finishing up the book, Super Green flew into the outdoor classroom where we had nested for a late morning snack and a story. Super Green told us all about her adventures helping people in San Francisco grow food and flowers and green the city!

We danced our hearts out for Super Green, enacting the water cycle and having fun with farm inspired danced moved; some of the collective dance was pre-planned and choreographed, though the sweetest moments were at the end when the spirit of the day took us and we improved our way through more movement, song and dance, chatting and a hearty laugh!

Super Green was so impressed, she wanted to hang with us and teach us about mapping. We wound our way through the farm to the Invisible Classroom and created beautiful maps of Hayes Valley Farm. Each map was so unique, and helped to tell the stories of our experiences on the farm… Thank you Super Green!

After a picnic lunch in the sun, and in preparation for Garden Detective Day, we juiced beets and carrots, making natural dyes from these beautiful vegetables and dyed pieces of sheer fabric that would become our Garden Detective belts/headbands!

Continuing the creativity in community the following day, Emily Elephant taught us how to make paper, but shredding up old unused paper, soaking it in water, blending it up and capturing it in a try and laying it out to dry on a piece of felt! So easy! So beautiful! We pressed flower petals and leaves and seeds into our paper. This is paper that you can plant! (If you are interested in a papermaking workshop for your school, youth organization or birthday party, please contact:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

In the afternoon, we met Tori, who raises hens down in Half Moon Bay. Tori brought two hens for us to meet, hold and learn from. They were so sweet, and soft. We sat in a circle in the shade under some eucalyptus trees and took turns holding the hens. It was so special to have a hen eat out of our hands, and cluck with joy because they began to trust us and enjoy our company too!

It gets better every day! 

Day 5…Garden Detective day is on the horizon…I can’t wait to see what’s growing around town!

Spring Sprout Camp Garden Detectives on the Move!
by Casey Gold

Friday was a special day reserved for detectives. Only the spunkiest and most spirited of young Sprouts elected themselves garden detectives for the day, and boy were they in for a treat.

The day started off as you’d expect- Labyrynth walk, mulch mountain quest, burmside hide & seek. Just another Friday morning at Hayes Valley Farm. As the clock ticked 8:30am- tick, tock- we gathered our belongings and set out for the great wide (San Francisco) open. We adorned our bodies with beet & carrot juice tye-dyed bandanas, relics of our devotion to Team Sprout. We walked with specimen vessels in hand; we studied Oak Street using our investigative senses. ‘Poppy hats’ called our attention- the white cocoons that encapsulate California poppy flowers before budding. Each hat popping at her own pace, we watched as the morning sun seduced each poppy from her slumber.

We followed our treasure map from Oak Street down to Van Ness, picking up healthy ecosystem clues along the way. Feathers, for example, speak to signs of diverse fauna in our urban environment, and are thus indicators of a healthy urban ecosystem. Bees, trees, and healthy people are several other indicators of a healthy system. 

Team Sprout hopped on busline #49 and rode to our destination: Alemany Farm. We rode the bus while entertaining ourselves with the question, “Can we make everybody on this bus laugh?” Laughter is quite therapeutic and enlivening for a detective’s spirit!  We eventually landed in a beautiful neighborhood I’d like to call Lower Bernemany Heights (that’s Lower Bernal Heights + Alemany). Bernemany is full of succulents and sour grass, the latter of which incidentally became part of our midmorning snack.

We descended into Alemany Farm through the upper Saint Mary’s Playground, a lovely scene in and of itself. Down and around the dog park, Althea Bee spotted a ladybug and began singing the ladybug jingle, “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 9 10 11 12 Ladybug Pic-Nic…” This was a great teaching moment, as ladybugs, too, are signs of an ecosystem in balance. They feed on harmful aphids and scale insects, acting as nature’s pesticide in an organic veggie garden. (FYI, you can attract ladybugs by planting vector flowers such as angelica or dill or by allowing weeds such as dandelions, wild carrot, or yarrow to grow).

Friday’s scavenger hunt guided us around Alemany Farm, activating our senses to wind, water, seeds, roots, and shoots. We put on our thinking caps as we trailed up the hill, following the trickling stream alongside raspberry row. “The natural flow of a stream is an indicator of the health of its water,” said detective Janelle. On our hunt, we observed an abundance of fruit trees, California natives, cover crop, and edibles- all soaking in the April 1^st sunshine. 

We spent the remaining hour of the field trip exercising our reflective detective minds. Each of us chose a peaceful place on the farm to sit and document the findings of our day. Althea Bee wrote about strawberries in bloom, Brody Worm Thinker drew dried lavender bushes, and Reumer Stinky Ole’ Worm illustrated the sour grass he had joyfully eaten that morning.

Back to the farm we went. We removed our detective caps for the day, hung up our nature names for the time being, and said goodbye to Spring Sprout Camp Session One. I will always hold dear these memories of the first ever Spring Camp at Hayes Valley Farm!