Educational Programs
Teaching character and skills through encountering God’s creation
Farm School
The Farm School sessions offer opportunities for public and private school age children and home school families to reconnect with our farm based rural heritage. The Farm School uses hands on experiences and demonstrations to captivate and inform audiences, both on the farm and in the classroom. Where appropriate, the Farm School will come to a school, offering assemblies, playground exhibitions, and individual classroom encounters. The Farm School also welcomes field trips to the farm so that children can experience the environment first hand.
Spring ‘09 Farm School Dates
For more information or to register your group contact us by phone at (715)538-1446 or click here to .
Lambing Season(Thursday, Friday)
• February 12, 13, 19, 26, 27
• March 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
• April 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17
Maple Syrup Production (Thursday, Friday)
• March 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
Fees - Adults and school age children $5.00
Pre-school children $3.00
Under 2 free
Classes Available
Lambing 101 - Hold a lamb in your lap and experience the soft warmth of its fleece. Learn about delivery. Weigh a newborn lamb. Watch lamb/ewe bonding. Tag a paper lamb’s ear. Dock an artificial lamb’s tail. Learn the meaning of terms such as ram, ewe, wether, jug, creep, and a whole lot more.
Lambing 102 - Work through the digestive system of sheep and experience first hand the fascinating process of rumination. Gather grass. Fill up the rumen with five gallons of green. Mix it with your own hands. Form a bolus. Grind the bolus into powder. Learn the four chambers of the lamb’s stomach and how each one functions. Identify the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. Decide whether or not you would like to try a special Scottish dish called Haggis or display a Ruminant Bloom in your living room.
Wonders of Wool – Touch a variety of wool from different breeds of sheep. Learn how fleeces are processed into yarn. Work a hand cranked carding machine and see a spinning demonstration. Learn the meaning of terms such as hank, felt, worsted, crimp, fleece, lock, and scouring. Discover how the characteristics of wool illustrate healthy family relationships.
A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm – Meet a “shepherd” and learn what it means to be part of the Lord’s flock. Find out where the valley of the shadow of death led to. Hold a rod and staff. Understand why the Good Shepherd had to prepare the table in advance and why goodness and mercy always followed wherever the shepherd led his sheep.
Stockdogs 101 – Watch a working Border Collie demonstrate respect for both their handler and the sheep as they work. See them guide a flock through a course. Learn the meaning of voice commands and whistles. Understand how respect is most effective in moving a flock of sheep.
Llamas 101 – Meet the Harvest Home Farm llamas. Feel their fine fiber. Watch them navigate an obstacle course to experience their trusting nature and agility. Find out why llamas spit, how to keep yourself on friendly terms with them, and dozens more interesting facts.
Poultry 101 – Gather eggs from the chicken coup. Catch a chicken and hold it in your lap. Study its external features. Find its ears, comb, waddle, pinions, spurs and a dozen other physical features. Answer the question “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
Poultry 102 – Observe the dissection of a chicken. Understand the importance of staying connected to your head. Experience the beautiful interconnected nature of its internal anatomy. Learn the function of the esophagus, trachea, lungs, crop, gizzard, stomach, intestines, liver, heart, gallbladder, ovaries, testicles, ligaments, tendons, and see eggs in various stages of development.
Maple Syrup Production 101 – Visit the Sugar Shack. Learn how to tap a tree. Hammer a spile. Collect maple sap and taste its faint sweetness. Learn about photosynthesis and tree anatomy. (Maple Syrup classes are dependent upon season and weather.)
Maple Syrup Production 102 – Watch us cook down the sap to concentrate the maple syrup. Learn about boiling points and density. Use a hydrometer to determine if syrup is ready for bottling. Taste the syrup for yourself and make some maple “snow” candy.
Tree Identification 101 – Walk the ridges of Harvest Home Farm and learn to recognize red oak, white oak, hickory, willow, apple, dogwood, birch, aspen, maple, white pine, red pine, sumac, alder, and ash. Identify their leaves, their bark, and the shape of their canopies. Learn to recognize the invasive species called Buckthorn and help us eliminate it from the farm by pulling young saplings out by the roots.
Wildflowers 101 – Study the characteristic blossoms and leaves of columbines, wood anemone, blood root, Indian pipe, shooting star, bunchberry, star flower, milkweed, plantain, dandelion, mullein, coneflower, thistle, Solomon’s seal, sumac, poison ivy, blackberry, and trillium. Dissect flowers to identify their parts including the stamen, pistil, ovary, and petals. (Varieties depend on season)
Team Building – Participate in a variety of initiative games that require trust, communication, and creativity.
Speaking Ministry
Dr. Larry Guthrie, author of the Harvest Home Farm “Food for Thought” radio minutes and Director of the Farm School, is available to speak to public schools classrooms, home school groups, and community organizations, as well as church groups, Christian School classrooms, and sportsmen’s events. His years of experience as a public school science teacher, college professor and author make him well equipped to meet the needs of a wide variety of age levels and interests.
For more information contact us by phone at 715-538-1446 or by . His credentials are available under the “staff” section of the Harvest Home Farm website.