Oh the beauty of homeschool!! We had some homeschool friends set up a field trip to a local farm. My plan is to do many more field trips next year. I need to start the planning for that right now!
We road on a little trolley that took us around the farm to look at all the different areas where they grow things.
This farm grows many different fruits. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what this picture is of:( I feel like maybe it is kale?
Sugarcane!!
Apple bananas. We learned that bananas will grow a flower on the end of their bunch. When you want the bunch to stop producing and just mature, you cut off the flower.
Some birds of paradise. There are some glimpses of the Azores here. Too bad that does not include the awesome friends we made there!!
The apple-banana tree grove
Papaya trees. We learned that "vine ripened" really only means that the fruit has the tiniest bit of the ripe color on it. If they don't pick the fruit at that time, the birds will eat them up. We have experienced that with our tomatoes here in our little home garden. The instant they have an orange streak, the birds are eating them.
We were able to have a lettuce growing class for the kiddos. Very cool. The guy teaching the class totally sounded just like my friend Kat Klein. I went through the whole class with this sense of familiarity, like I already knew this guy. Lol, I asked if he was from the East coast somewhere and told him he sounded like a friend of mine. He told me I was right; he was from the Boston area. From Boston all the way to Hawaii to work on this farm!
They grow lettuce just to use in the little restaurant they have there at the farm. They use these really cool water tables. That is basically a big styrofoam board with holes in it that the lettuce roots go down through and sit in the water.
Here, he pulled one of the lettuces out so the kids could see the roots.
Of course, what would a field trip be without being able to bring home a souvenier? The kids got their hands dirty and planted their own lettuce seeds in some little cups. The teacher showed them how to make sure the soil had the perfect amount of moisture in it. Lettuce seeds are really tiny.
You can see Jackson there in his new favorite shirt with the Superman cape "painted on" the back of the t-shirt. He picks that shirt out of the laundry pretty much any time it is clean.
At the farm we also learned about this cool way to compost using worms and sterilite bins. So, of course I asked if they could give us some worms to take home (the guy mentioned they would do so during the class). Did you know worms cost $100 a pound? Craziness!
Anyhow, I put Mike to work the next day, drilling holes all over our bins. We have started with two bins, which he stacked together and drilled holes all over. Then, you fill the bottom one with a about a two inch layer of ripped up newspaper or other paper products and then a minimal amount of fruit or veggie shavings or skins. You only do that a couple times a week, which is supposed to be enough for the worms and will also keep the bin from smelling. You should keep it in a shady area.
Now we are just waiting to see how it all works out!
