Farm Trip Day 1:

 

We had a meandering start to our day but when we finally arrived at Hawthorne Valley Farm, everyone hit the ground running. Below are some samples from the students’ evening journal writing session, which hopefully gives you a glimpse into our very exciting, beautiful, and yes a bit tiring but in a good way, day.

 

Zara: Well, my day didn’t go as planned. I got to school late. Well to be exact, five minutes late.

So, first of all this wasn’t even my fault so technically, it was the train’s fault because I left early.

 

Selah: I went to school and found out that my bus partner was Zara! Yes!…So my bus ride? Well, Zara slept most of the time.

 

June: We then lined up and departed our classroom! We walked down the stairs and when we walked outside, all of the parents started clapping. Then we got on the bus and I chose a seat near the front because I get carsick, but luckily I didn’t get car sick!

 

Nico: About two hours into the ride, one of our teachers, Deborah, noticed we were going the wrong way. So we had to turn back and ride for another hour and a half. When we turned around we saw metal spaceships in a yard.

 

Lila: Then our day really started! We had a tour of the farm. It was really smelly! When we got to the sheep I found out their names and one of them is even named Lila!

 

Shaffer: We ate lunch, it was salad, rice, radishes and much more. (For dinner) I made soup and thirty people ate it. I cut an onion and my eyes blew up.

 

Emilia: The lentil soup was fun to make and gross to eat.

 

Skylar: I went cow herding and stepped in mud and cow poop. It was fun cow herding because they kind of listen to you. Also you get to boss them around. The hills were amazing.

 

Ziva: I enjoyed getting expired food and giving it to the pigs because pigs eat anything and they liked it. When we put the liquids into one it looked disgusting.

 

Lily: After lunch we separated into groups and did different activities. My group was the “Piglets” group. We made butter and we had to herd the cows and bull. We had to walk through mud and poop which was in my opinion, fun!

 

Dante: I stepped in horse poop. Is that good or bad? I am soaked to the skin with mud. And I fed pigs bread, tortillas, ravioli, kombucha, juice, milk, sour cream, noodles, yogurt, salsa, and hummus.

 

Cydney: First, me and Selah (we were always partners) washed the vegetables. There were so many carrots! Then we put together the spices. The smell took over!

 

Sawyer: After lunch, my group, the calves, were with the horses. We rode them and cleaned their poop.

 

Paloma: First we took a tour and then we went to the horses. We learned the safety rules, then we got to brush them (I brushed Sam). After we cleaned the poop, I was the last to ride (I rode Daisy).

 

Will: Last, we herded the cows and the walk to the cows took seven minutes and it was muddy and sticky. When we got there, we had bamboo and we were putting our arms straight like a fence. It took awhile to get the cows back to the farm.

 

Penelope: I rode the horse, Daisy, backwards. It was weird because I had never done that before.

 

Julian: At free time we ran races and we had races climbing the rock wall. The we had a great dinner. It was hard boiled eggs and salad. At the end of the day we got our pajamas on and brushed our teeth. Now we go to sleep!

 

Vincent: After we finished dinner, we, me and the waiters, cleaned up after dinner, swept the floor, stacked the chairs, and cleaned the tablecloth…I found my friend Tyler’s lost stuffed animal from the last trip (wedged in between the mattress and the wall).

 

Ivy: At dinner we ate eggs a special way. We also ate lentil soup, which one of the other groups made. Then I found out that I have morning chores with Penelope and have to wake up tomorrow at 5:45!