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!