Fall After-School Farm Camps

Spend Time With Our Chickens --
in Our Fall After-School Farm Camps!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

 

Summer 2013 is already coming to a close, and Fall is just around the corner! 

This post is just a quick reminder about our two fall after-school camps.  There are still spots available in each of these camps – so please visit our website soon to register!
 

Great Garden Gang: Exploring Fall!

Help us harvest from our farm fields and children’s garden, and our chicken flock – and then use our harvest for cooking and crafts!
Ages:  6-10 years
Days:  Thursdays
Dates:  September 12, 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17
Time:  4:00-5:30 p.m.
Cost:  $95

 
Be Part of the Chicken Chore Crew!
If you’ve been a Hen House Helper volunteer with your parents, or if you’ve been part of our farm camps or other farm programs, then you’ve already had the incredible experience of collecting eggs from our chickens.  But there’s much more involved in caring for our flock than collecting eggs.  Come join our Learning Farm chicken farmers to learn about and participate in some of these important tasks!
Ages:  8-12 years old
Days:  Mondays
Fall Session Dates:  Sept. 9, 16, 23, 30
Time for Fall Session:  4:00-5:30 p.m.
Cost:  $25/child/session

Workshop Opportunities!

Suburban Homesteading Workshop Series:

Including a Backyard Chicken Workshop!
by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

The urban and suburban homesteading movement has gained momentum in recent years.  Increasing numbers of urban and suburban folks are striving toward a more self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle – growing more of their own food (and in some cases their own small livestock, such as chickens and bees), as well as preparing more of their food, fiber, and other items from scratch. 

Greater numbers of suburban homesteaders are practicing small-scale farming in their suburban-sized backyards – and sometimes in their front yards, as well.

 

Our Learning Farm staff share a love of this homesteading lifestyle.  We live in the suburbs and we work on a suburban farm – we practice suburban homesteading both on the farm, in our own homes, and in our yards every day in a variety of ways.  We each have our areas of interest and expertise – and taken together the Learning Farm staff holds a wealth of knowledge and experience for the suburban homesteader.  Through these workshops, we can share our passion with those seeking a similar lifestyle.

The idea to start this fall Suburban Homesteading Workshop Series came to me while attending a presentation on backyard chickens earlier this year.  As a farm set in the suburbs, Prairie Crossing Learning Farm is uniquely positioned to serve as a resource for new suburban homesteaders – those looking to explore new homesteading topics or to further hone their existing skills.  My hope is that we will be able offer a new set of workshops each season throughout the year, moving the Learning Farm toward becoming a center for suburban homesteading.

Here are the workshops that we’ll be offering this fall (note that the first workshop date is this Saturday!):

 

·         Preserving the Harvest -> August 24

·         World Grains – Growing & Using -> September 14

·         Small-scale Composting -> October 5

·         Backyard Chickens -> October 26

·         Homemade Yogurt & Granola -> November 16

 

Visit our website for more information and to register! 

 

 

Reflections...

Reflections on Farming – and by Extension,

Reflections on Raising Our Chicks
by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

I recently purchased and happily read three new memoir-type books on farming – and in each I found a quote that put me in mind of our experience raising our new flock of chicks during the past 7 weeks. 

Some of my thoughts and feelings are reflected in the quotes from these authors…

“A farm is a manipulative creature.  There is no such thing as finished.  Work comes in a stream and has no end.  There are only the things that must be done now and things that can be done later.  The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can’t is this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die.  It’s blackmail, really.”

Kristin Kimball (The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love, p. 150)

“Farming is a beautiful thing, but it takes a lot out of you.  It’s not so much the actual labor but rather the relentless responsibilities that do it.”

Jenna Woginrich (Barnheart:The Incurable Longing for a Farm of One’s Own, p. 148)

“At last the chicks arrived…  From that day forward…  Up at four – start the kitchen fire – put the coffee on – go out to the baby chicks – come back and slice off some ham and sling it into the frying pan – out to the baby chicks with warm water – put toast into the oven – out to the baby chicks with mash – set the breakfast table – out to the baby chicks with chick food – open a can of fruit – out to the baby chicks, and on and on through the day.  I felt as if I were…fleeing down the track in front of an onrushing locomotive.”

Betty MacDonald (The Egg & I, pp. 107-108)

Now, not wanting these quotes to leave you with the wrong impression, let me end this post by saying that raising these chicks (from 1-day old to their current 7 weeks of age) has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done yet as an employee of the Learning Farm. 

Some of life’s best experiences require a bit of effort on our part...

Photo Evidence 

that the Chicks are Growing Up!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Our chicks are 6 weeks old now – and they continue to grow and explore their world.  This past week they reach several small milestones (maybe those are called “quarter-of-a-mile stones”?), as well as one rather large milestone.  

Here are some of the small ones:

Practice perching on the adult roosts during the day…

Drinking from the new adult waterer…

Exploring the adult nest boxes…

Exploring the outdoors through the open door (they haven’t yet been let outdoors)…

As for the rather large milestone? 

Well, I’m still coming in to check on the chicks late at night (not quite as late as I was before, but I still don’t feel comfortable letting them go for a full eight hours without someone peeking in on them).  On Tuesday night I came in to find four of the chicks sleeping on the adult roosts for the first time, rather than sleeping near or under the brooder box!  While we’ve seen them perched on the roosts during the day, this was the first time any of them had chosen to sleep there for the night.  I was excited, and noted this new development on our “Chick Check Log.”

The next night, Wednesday, I found four chicks on the roosts once again.  It might have been the same four – but there’s no way to be certain, of course.

But then along came Thursday, and when Anya closed the chick house up for the night at 8:30 p.m., she texted me saying that there were 32 chicks roosting on “the big girl perches”!  

When I came in for my late night chick check a few hours later, 18 chicks remained perched on the roosts – the others had returned to the warmth and security of the brooder box.  

Every night since then, I’ve found 17 or 18 chicks sleeping on the adult roosts during the late night check – a definite sign that our girls are growing up!