I am getting so excited for another fall season of education to begin on the farm. The transition into this, the busiest of seasons, makes me so proud of what we have built. With just one reminder e-mail to the schools of the Pajaro Valley and Monterey Bay Area, we received dozens of phone calls from teachers hoping to participate in our programs.
With the money the Discovery Program has raised, we’ll be transporting 120 kids to the farm this month. Thanks to our wonderful supporters, those 120 kids will get to walk and work in the fields, harvest apples, hunt in our Discovery Garden, milk our goats, make apple cider with our press and learn about the nutrition and local history of the glorious apple. We call this visit Applemania! Yet another 120 or so kids will get to participate for free and/or reduced tour fees — again, thanks to your generous donations (through events like our fall food and wine “plein-air” fundraiser dinner, DIG!).
Through our tours and other programs we will reach about 400 kids this fall, teaching them about healthy eating habits, healthy farming practices, and share some fulfilling physical activity though fieldwork and farm hikes.
In addition to the fall Applemania tours, we will also be hosting a mostly new group of homeschooling families on the last Wednesday of each month (this may still have some space in it). Wavecrest Junior High, from Santa Cruz Montessori, returns this Thursday September 6th and will be joining us again this year, every Thursday, for their whole school day. We will also be working in the fields with two groups of College students — one from Stanford University and another from Williams College. We also hope to have the young ones from Wishing Well Preschool visit us each season for a five senses experience of the change of seasons on the farm. And of course we will continue our Wee Ones and Small Farmers drop in programs through October or, with enough interest, all winter as well.
But the fun does not end there. Adults get to participate too. We are now accepting applications for College interns from Cabrillo College and UCSC. And if your demographic has still not been mentioned, we are developing a Discovery Docent program for adults who want to learn more about the farm and help with our kids programs.
We truly relish your enthusiastic participation in all we have created and thank you, our community, for helping us reach so many people of all ages with our healthy kids, environment and community goals. As always, we encourage you to be in touch.
– Jessica
