Gardening!

We worked with the farm staff, guest farmer Jim, and each other to get the farm's garden going during the beautiful weather on Wednesday.

Maggie and Lauren prepared the broccoli plants.

Sayquan, Victor, and Molly also worked with broccoli plants. 

 Tocarri, Rob, Marcela, Caitlin, Elliot, Aliyah and Mr. Green prepared raised garden beds and planted a lot of different seeds!

Ricardo (and Rocky) worked on the garden beds inside the greenhouse. 

Yadira (and Priscilla) brought soil (rich with nutrients from manure) over to the greenhouse.

One Chick Two Chick Three Chick!

Molly taught us how to play "the chicken game" and we had a lot of fun working together as a team!  At first we weren't sure what to do or how to work together.  It turned out that all of the work we had done in our class around communicating and being aware of others actually helped us to make a plan that included everyone in our big win.

Tocarri and Victory

Tocarri and Elliot took care of Victory this week.  She is only 10 days old!

Elliot holding a chick for the first time

Today, Elliot finally got to hold a chick.  His friend Tocarri helped him guide the chick over so she was close enough to pick up.  At the end of the day when Elliot was asked about his favorite experience of the week, he said "holding the baby chick."

Working in the Cheese House

Hi this is Jaida and I was with my friend Aliyah cleaning cheese in the Cheese House yesterday.  It was awesome.  When we first got into the cheese room it smelled disgusting, but after awhile I got used to it.  I had a great time and I'll never forget that experience of cleaning a big wheel of cheese.  I had fun with my best friend Aliyah.

Hi this is Aliyah and I was with Jaida in the Cheese House!  I also think it was awesome.  There was a lot of cheese and we had to clean 18 wheels of cheese with salty water (brine).  It was exhausting because we had to pick up the 20 pound wheels of cheese and we had to make sure they didn't drop, which meant sometimes we had to use our whole body and hands to keep it safe.  It was hard to turn it, but we had to keep turning it so that whole wheel was clean.  It was a fun thing to do with my friends even though it was hard.

Small Animal Barn

Hi it's Maggie and today my group and I were in the Small Animal Barn where all the baby animals are.  This is a picture of me, Rocky, and Julia the calf.  Julia is the oldest calf in the barn and will be moving to the heifer barn soon.  We had to clean out her cage while she was in the cage and it was hard because she kept biting my boot - and licking it!  The calves weren't the only things we took care of, there were also chicks, pigs, and a goat.  Everyone loved being around the chicks and Rocky and Lauren even gave two of them names.  Rocky named one Mr. Fuzz and Lauren named hers Alfred.  With the pigs, we had to wash out their food bowls (which was kind of disgusting) and put more food in them while they were trying to bite our clothes off.  For Rory the goat, we gave her more water and food.  She likes to put her front legs on a little stone in her cage so she can see what's going on better.  I love being on the farm, but I hope I can see my family soon.

Today's Surprise!

Today in the Dairy Barn, we were about to milk a cow but first we had to learn what milking felt like for the cows.  Rob told us to put our thumb into the machine that collects milk from the cows and it felt like one of the pigs was sucking my thumb.  It felt so weird that I made this face at first, but then I wanted to do it again.  It was fun milking the cows, but I didn't get that much milk out.  I learned that milking cows is not that easy when you just use your hands.  In the Dairy Barn I was hoping to see Snow White's baby, but unfortunately she hasn't had the baby yet even though today was the expected day.  Maybe tomorrow!  -- Marcela

Milking in the Dairy Barn

Yesterday on the farm we got to go to a place called the Dairy Barn and the cows have all had a baby so they could give the farmers milk.  When we got there for chores in the morning, we had to pick up the manure (don't worry we didn't have to use our hands), but in the afternoon it was worth it because we got to milk a cow.  It was really cool because milking a cow is a really interesting experience because you can actually say "I've milked a cow."  Not a lot of city kids, like me, get to say that.  I can't wait to go back and see the dairy cows again at the end of the week.  -- Rocky

Fun on the farm!

This is a picture from today when we were in the garden planting onions with Jim the farmer.  I miss my mom, but I'm having fun on the farm.  I also like going into the small animal barn where the pigs, calves and chicks are.  One of my favorite things was working together in a group, shoveling manure into a wheelbarrow and then carrying the heavy wheelbarrow up a little hill, this made me feel happy. I also really like my roommates, they're really fun and so are our neighbors!

A Day in the Chicken Coop

Hi this is Natalie and I'm writing to you from Spring Brook Farm in Reading, VT.  The first picture shows me, Jane, and Caitlin feeding the chickens at the chicken coop.  This is right next to the heifer barn where we have done our AM and PM chores.  The chickens in the chicken in the coop are all hens and there are no roosters there currently, meaning all of the eggs are edible and unfertilized.  The picture below is of me holding up the eggs that we collected from the nests of the hens.  It's hard to tell, but the colors of the eggs are blue, light brown, peach, and white.  The shells are hardened inside the chicken from the dirt they peck at during the day.  At night they have to go back inside the coop because even though there are wire fences around the pen, predators such as coyotes and foxes can still get in.  The chickens look really funny walking around with their waddles waddling.  Some of them have really fluffy bellies, but even though it looks tempting to pet, they don't like being picked up.  I know from experience!

Caitlin and Beezus

Hi this is Caitlin and Beezus.  Beezus is a heifer calf who I adore.  I adore her because she tries to lick me and she's really soft and lovable.  Before coming to this farm, I never knew that pigs have a much larger appendix than humans do - and other than that we have very similar stomachs.  That's why humans sometimes feed pigs leftovers!  Also, I have been playing with the piglets and they loved biting my boots.  I also have taken care of baby calves.  Julia, one of the calves, nudged against my head affectionately.  I feel like she loves me and that makes me happy.  I'm excited to milk the cows and hold chicks later this week.

My First Time in the Cheese House

This is Victor and today I went to the Cheese House at Spring Brook Farm.  This is a picture of me holding the suit that we were going to wear while doing work with the cheese.  We had to wear this suit and other gear because we don't want to infect the cheese.  We had to clean the cheese and flip it over.  That was hard because the cheese was heavy (20 pounds) and we had to flip it over carefully.  Then we had to wipe all of the white spots off of the cheese wheel.  The part that we wipe wasn't the part that we eat, it's called the rind and it protects the cheese from getting infected.  So far at the farm, we have fed and milked cows.  I also fed a goat and I was happy that I did it.  I'm glad that I learned all of these things about the animals.

Taking Care of Manure (cow poop)

This is Priscilla and today I have been taking care of the cows in the heifer barn.  It's been a lot of work.  We had to scrape all of the dirt and manure in their living space.  We worked so hard because if the heifers eat their manure they would get sick.  Also, if they get it on them, they might lick it and that could get them sick, too.  It was a whole second job to make their beds after we cleaned it.  In this picture I am holding manure in a shovel and I'm about to put a wheelbarrow.  The wheelbarrow will go on a mountain of compost - a classmate will wheel it there.  Many hands make light work.  Our whole class cleaned the heifer barn.  I'm sure glad I didn't have to do it by myself!  It was fun doing this even though we got our boots dirty.

Feeding the Heifers

Hi this is Marcela and I am feeling excited about being in Vermont.  This is a picture of me and my best friend Caitlin feeding the heifer calves.  It was very hard to distract the calves while we were putting the food in their trough.  The calves were eating hay at the front of the barn near where Ms. Jackson took this picture.  Do you know what a heifer is?  A heifer is a cow that has not given birth yet - so it's called a heifer, not a cow.  So far my favorite part about being here is having fun with my friends while taking care of the animals.

We made it to the farm!

Dear families and friends,

We made it safely to Spring Brook Farm!  We arrived in time for lunch, took a tour of the farm, and did our afternoon chores.  Then we enjoyed dinner, learned about teamwork and persistence, and then enjoyed some free time while preparing for bed.  (Hopefully) all students will be fast asleep soon and we'll be up at 6:30 to do our morning chores.

We will post photos and have students write about the experience tomorrow night!