Discover This!

This week kicks off the first of four weeks of summer camps at Live Earth Farm!  We have added two new camps to our lineup this summer.  In addition to our two sessions of Art on the Farm Camp, we will be running a Young Farmers Camp and a Sprouts Camp! I am so excited to see what these four weeks have in store!

Today we finished the third day of Session 1 Art on the Farm Camp.  So far this week, we have gotten crafty making pickled carrots, garden signs, cookies, terrariums, bird feeders and many more projects!  We will be enjoying our pizza party and sleepover tomorrow night and more crafts and adventures on Friday!

There are still spots available in the next three sessions of camp, so if you are interested in signing your kids up, click here: http://liveearthfarm.net/discovery-program/programs/farm-camps/

 ~ William Blake

While at the library this week with my two little girls, I came across two cute cookbooks for working with children.  This recipe comes from Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up, by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson.

The other book, also by Mollie Katzen, is called Honest Pretzels and 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & Up. We can delve into the second book next month.  This month I thought we could share Hide and Seek Muffins.

from full tummies.blogspot.com

Hide and Seek Muffins

Prep & Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients:

For Muffin Mix:

(the author suggests you make this in advance to make the rest easier for your kiddo, but I find measuring, especially dry ingredients if my 4 year old Ophelia’s favorite and most successful task)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 sugar

The wet ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 4 Tbs. melted butter
• 12 medium sized strawberries, or other fruit in season. . . 1/4 apricot perhaps!
• 2-3 Tbs. sugar (totally unnecessary when using in season LEF fruit!)

Tools:

• 1, 12 cup muffin pan
• small sauce pan for melting butter
• 2 medium bowls
• 1/4 cup measure & 1 cup measure
• measuring spoons
• whisk
• timer
• toothpick

Directions:

1. Melt butter in saucepan.
2. KIDS! measure and whisk together “muffin mix” dry ingredients in first bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 375F
4. KIDS! Use a basting brush to paint canola oil or remnants from the butter melting, on muffin pan.
5. KIDS! Break the eggs into the second bowl.
6. KIDS! Measure and add milk, vanilla, and melted butter.  Whisk about 20 times.
7. KIDS! Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Mix with a spoon until all the dry ingredients disappear!
8. KIDS! Use 1/4 cup measure to fill the muffin cups almost to the top
9. KIDS! Push one strawberry into the middle of each muffin cup with your clean finger.
10. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted all the way down comes out clean (make sure you insert it into batter and not into the fruit).  Remove from pan to cool.  Cool at least 10 minutes before eating (go ahead set that time one more time so the kids know when they can ask for a muffin AGAIN!)

Dear Live Earth Farm Discovery Program Community,

Joaquin visited Live Earth Farm with his 5^th grade class. Even though Joaquin’s school is surrounded by farmland, more than half his classmates had never visited a farm. His school’s field trip budget is $0. Thanks to the funds raised by LEFDP, Joaquin had the chance to pick and eat an apple from a hundred year old tree. He played our healthy foods relay and helped us grow food in the Discovery Garden.

On June 22^nd, 2013 Live Earth Farm will host an event for the Pajaro Valley community, for Joaquin and his family. In 2012 LEFDP helped improve family nutrition for over 1500 students of all ages by teaching how to grow a healthy plant-based diet during our field trips and community events like this one.

By sponsoring this event you can help provide local food, nutrition and environmental education lessons to the whole community. Please choose a sponsorship level using the Donate button on our website: http://liveearthfarm.net/solstice-sponsorship/

All year we have been inviting all of our students to return to the farm with their families for free on June 22^nd. Everyone is welcome to pick and eat warm strawberries in the field, learn sustainable farming and gardening practices through hands-on activities in our Discovery Garden, taste healthy snacks made by local food artisans, and build community around fresh food.  You can become a sponsor of this valuable event, promoting agriculture in the Pajaro Valley.

With Gratitude,

Jessica Ridgeway

Director and Cofounder

Live Earth Farm Discovery Program

On June 22^nd, the community will gather at Live Earth Farm for their annual Summer Solstice Celebration. This longstanding tradition of celebrating Santa Cruz agriculture at the changing of the seasons will include lots of farming fun for the whole family. Celebrants will be invited to pick and eat warm strawberries right from the field, join Farmer Tom on tractor tours, make pizzettes in the cob oven, milk our goats, make farm fresh cheese, get their faces painted, explore our hay bale fort, and sample craft beer and sausage, all before our potluck, bonfire and live music at sunset.

On June 22^nd, 2013, 2pm to dark at 172 Litchfield Lane in Watsonville, the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program’s annual Summer Solstice Celebration, will welcome the local community to the farm to celebrate summer in the fields. Tickets are $10 per car in advance and $15 at the door and can be purchased on the event web page. In keeping with our mission to provide programs for everyone in our community, no on will be turned away.

The LEF Discovery Program entreats guests to participate in our local food system through farm and garden projects and games, goat milking, cob oven baking, a farm stand and several local artisan booths. The day will culminate in a community potluck dinner, bonfire, live music, and fire dancing.

This year we welcome local artisans to share their craft including Penny Ice Creamery, Happy Girl Kitchen Company, Companion Bakeshop, 3 of a Kind Juice and Corralitos Meat Market & Sausage Company.  We are also happy to welcome two musical additions Joshua Lowe & the Juncos and Kuzanga Marimba.

The Summer Solstice Celebration is one of three annual, on farm celebrations open to the public; all of which aim to further our mission of helping local, under served youth build confidence in learning to be active caretakers of themselves, their community and their environment.  Children and adults will delight in interacting with farmers, animals and harvest, all with expert help and child friendly tools.

We welcome volunteers in number of different capacities including greeters, station leaders, potluck handlers and more.  Volunteer and their families attend for free. Please get in touch!

Last week I celebrated my 24th birthday and a dear friend of mine from the farm made me a strawberry rhubarb pie.  It was the first one I had ever had the pleasure of eating, and it was delicious! We have both strawberries and rhubarb on the farm right now, so buy them at the market, look in your CSA box, or come to our U-Pick Saturday the 25th and pick some berries yourself!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Prep & cook time: 2 hours/Serves 8

Ingredients:

For crust:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 10 tablespoons (about) ice water

For filling:

• 3 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick slices trimmed rhubarb (1 1/2 pounds untrimmed)
• 1 16-ounce container strawberries, hulled, halved (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For glaze:

• 1 large egg yolk beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze) 

Directions:

As spring spreads it’s wings and embraces our beautiful valley I begin to realize how short this season really is on the farm.  The bursts of flowers on different fruit trees, the cycles of different bird calls, new growth on plants, and the momentous buzzing of bees turns the valley into a virtual soap opera of production.  As important as it is for students to see the fall season and its bountiful harvest from the farm, I feel like the spring season is almost more important for their deeper understanding of “where food comes from”.

From a biological standpoint the students get to learn the life cycle of the plant, how the six plant parts function, and the ways that we as humans use these parts.  They get to see the actual transition from a plant to a seed to a plant again. And taste all six plant parts.

 We have had twenty school groups to the farm this spring, (including our weekly and monthly visitors) and we have been having a lot of fun! The baby goats were born the first week of April, and have been a big hit! Our baby chicks arrived last week, just in time for the last couple of tours.  We have been enjoying our strawberry crop (though we just discovered that we have a mite issue in our Discovery Field) and are looking forward to our summer crops!

My name is Julian Ensworth and I am the new intern for Live Earth Farm’s Discovery Program. I was born and currently live in San Diego, CA. My family has always been very active in the great outdoors. As a baby my parents carried me through hikes in Big Sur. When I got a little bit older my family moved to a house on a canyon, surrounded in wildlife and natural beauty. I spent my entire childhood exploring the canyon in my backyard. My fondest memories are climbing through bushes and trees.

Sadly, I’ve found that as I have grown up I have lost my unity with nature. This has really led me to realize that I am happiest when outside, working with my hands to build something. This is why I have chosen to intern on a farm. I believe the best lessons in life can be learned from doing.

I appreciate the ways of the farmer. In this modern day society, I believe the majority of people have lost touch with where food actually comes from. I understand the work of a farmer is tough and demanding, but I am eager to accept this challenge. I want to go to bed knowing the work I have done is honest and important. I respect farmers for their hardships and perseverance.

I know I will feel accomplished if I partake in this work. I am easy to get along with and efficiently follow through on commands. I know the importance of working hard. I am also extremely anxious to learn farming methods to bring home and implement in my own house. I believe that an internship on a farm will be an overall holistic experience in which I will gain knowledge unattainable in a classroom.