Due to guidelines from Santa Cruz County and the State of California, we will be offering an adapted camp program again this summer. It is our goal to offer hands-on experiences in nature and farming to children this summer, while maintaining safety through strict adherence to state and county mandates. As a result, spaces will remain very limited.
In order to better accommodate daycare needs of working families and volunteers, we have shifted from a weekly to monthly session format.
Each month-long session will be full of adventures on the farm with hands-on activities in farming, art, cooking and wild crafting (plant ID, fire building, shelter building and more!) as well as hikes around our 150-acre organic farm.
SCROLL DOWN FOR A SAMPLE SCHEDULE
Although summer camps will be a day-camp affair, we are also offering an optional Thursday night pizza-making camp-out and sleepover during the Art on the Farm and Farm to Table camps! This option is for campers who wish to carry the fun of daily farm life long into the night. Join us for cob oven baking, s’mores making, and a roaring fire. There is an additional cost for campers who choose to do the overnight, which covers a farm fresh dinner, and breakfast in the morning. Don’t forget your sleeping bag!
Kiddos will explore pieces of Live Earth’s 150 acres in both organic vegetable row crop production and fruit orchards. In addition to learning about life as an organic vegetable farmer, kiddos will spend time getting to know our herd of goats, our milking cow, Bella, and visit with the chickens. Kiddos will assist in daily chores of our animals, while learning about the benefits of humane livestock management.
“I love that she is outside all day and has a new appreciation of where her food comes from. She LOVES to cook from this program!” -parent
Sample Schedule
8:45 Arrive/free play
9:20 Opening circle
9:30 Activity 1 – Harvest strawberries and plant garlic
10:45 Snack
11:00 Activity 2 – fossil making with clay and found objects like shells, leafs, rocks
12:15 Lunch
12:45 Animal Discovery – hang out with pigmy goats and chickens or visit ponies, cow & pig
1:30 Activity 3 – Fridge pickling with harvest from our fields
2:30 Activity 4 – nature journaling or water colors
3:15 Snack and free play
3:00 Pack up, free time, sign out, go home
3:15 (LIT Only) Clean-up, debrief, skill building
4:00 LIT pick-up
*Additionally, we usually go on one hike a week around the farm to explore our wild spaces and/or Live Earth production fields. We take our time going 1/2-3/4 miles with breaks for play and harvests.
Both sessions of summer farm care will include elements of all our summer camp theme weeks: Art on the Farm, Farm to Table and Wild Craft!
Art on the Farm
Explore the wonders of nature through farming and artistic expression. Activities may include printing from natural materials, musical instrument making, working in the education demonstration garden, cheese making, felting and so much more! Each day we will harvest something from the garden to contribute to our sustainable picnic lunches!
Farm to Table
Learning about farming, food preparation and preservation through hands-on activities in our fields, Discovery Garden, and kitchen classroom. Kids who love food or never let a leafy green cross their lips will both enjoy exploring the processes of creating healthy and tasty meals beginning with a seed.
Wild Craft
Wildcraft is an exciting new addition to our summer programs! Kiddos will develop and grow their relationship to nature and the region they are growing up in. Activities will include fire and shelter building, map reading and orienteering, knot tying, plant identification and foraging and natural history of the region, especially that of it’s first peoples.
Leaders in Training
Leaders-in-Training 14 years+ learn with the education team each of the two sessions of camp/care. This is a great way to build job skills, experience with children and learn about life on a working farm. See our blog post on the LIT Program Contact education@farmdiscovery.org to apply!
In response to the continuation of ‘Shelter in Place’ guidelines from Santa Cruz County and the State of California, we are adapting our summer program. The state and county mandates, we will adhere to are as follows:
- Summer camp may be offered to children of essential workers or volunteers working in essential services.
- Groups of children may be no larger that 14 and must be with the same children each day
- Staff must stay with the same children each day and not interact with children from other groups
- If there is more than one group of children on site, they must not overlap/share facilities
In order to better accommodate daycare needs of essential workers and volunteers, we have shifted from a weekly to monthly session format with extended care options.
For more information contact Lucie Ashley at education@farmdiscovery.org or call the Farm Discovery office at (831) 728-2032.