Fairmont Service Project - August 14, 2013

Today we had international students from the Fairmont Private School working really hard in the Ranch on a few projects: mulching the orchard, digging holes for the new fence posts to be placed at the bottom of the orchard and transplanting purple Sage plants from another location onsite.  At our break, I had the younger students harvest some lemons and almost everyone participated in making fresh pressed Lemonade.  They LOVED it!!

With my degree being in International Relations, I enjoyed having the opportunity collaborate with students from other countries.  I always find it fascinating to observe people and the way they act, think and speak.  While the majority of the students seemed to handle the work just fine, there were some that were very uncomfortable with the notion of getting dirty or sweating...despite their hesitations everyone including the OEC staff worked well together to accomplish the tasks at hand.

A great experience for the OEC; I hope to bring more opportunities like this to our facility!

Life Science before 2013

I found some photos of the Ranch area prior to 2013.  The first photo is the Ranch area between 2011 and 2012...the second photo is the garden prior to the installation of the new beds in February of this year.

Humble Harvests from Living Classroom, its just the beginning! July 31, 2013

Summer is always loved for the seasonal produce that is grown at this time of year.  We are loving all of our Kale, Tomatoes, Eggplant, Arugula, beans and more.  Our kitchen staff likes to frequent the garden and pick ingredients for the meals that day.  Our hope is to grow enough food in the future to substantially supplement our kitchen and guests with nutritious local food!

Veggie "pile" - polenta topped with garden veggies quickly sautéed with onions and garlic.  Topped with fresh tomato and basil relish and a dash of Balsamic.  

Spaghetti heirloom squash stuffed with garden veggies and brown rice.  Topped with a lemon/olive oil blend and avocado.

Life Science Curriculum July 15, 2013

We had a small group today visit the Ranch.  Matt and I decided to change things up a little bit and the kids got to make their own garden salad, followed by some work in the orchard and then fresh squeezed lemonade from the lemons they picked.

Seriously, kids love veggies, ESPECIALLY KALE!

Hike to the top of Koll mountain!

Installing new Queen July 10, 2013

In an effort to save the hive I've ordered a new Queen to install as there have been indicators that the hive is Queen-less.

She arrived with about 4 attendants in this small box.  The white block inside is candy that the bees chew away at to reach the Queen.  By the time they reach her they will have adjusted to her pheromones and accept her as the new Queen.

Placing the Queen box in between two frames.

Bees already starting to reach her.

Hive Inspection July 8, 2013

Checking on the little ones.  I haven't seen a queen in a few weeks and they bees have been building queen cells so I've decided to order a new queen to install.

New potting/work bench!! late June 2013

Summer bounty is taking off!

Happy sunflowers growing tall and strong.

Squash popping up in the Three Sister garden.

Micro-greens!

Our new potting and storage bench! Thank you to Bob for his hard work on this project!

Complete with a sink for washing produce!

Mulch! Late June 2013

As mentioned before, B & J Tree Service generously supplies us with truckloads of mulch for our property.  We have been adding mulch in the orchard now for a week and we aren't finished!  It's good labor intensive work and rewarding to know the trees will be much happier with the added biology that will develop over time.

Experimenting with some sheet mulching as well.  Sheet mulching prevents the growth of weeds by first adding cardboard, soaking it with water, adding compost then applying mulch.

Progress!!

Happy trees, happy blossoms, happy bees!

Life Science Curriculum June 20, 2013

Life Science Curriculum today with 6th graders.  

Starting our rotations off with a hive inspection and bee discussion :) 

The kids absolutely LOVE learning about bees.

Worm time!!!

Checking out the Vermiculture bins.

Putting these older kids to work in the garden.  They are adding mulch and compost to the beds and other growing areas.

Endless supply of mulch to keep the boys busy!

Checking out the corn in the Three Sisters bed.

Life Science Curriculum June 6, 2013

Life Science Curriculum today for another homeschool program.  

Hanging out in the garden is cool!!

Water cycle activity.

Mama Smurf acting out the different forms of water.

Gettin' dirty in the compost.

What the Ranch looks like today!

Mike guiding the students in planting a micro-green crop.

How many gallons of water activity.  Prompts students to guess how much water is used to create items in their everyday lives.  Encourages them to think about the "water footprint" concept and how they can reduce their water waste.