Monday, December 17, 2018

Stories from Farm Stay 2 2018



Sunday Blog
Dec 9th
by Braeden
Today I slept in all the way to 8:30. That is a very hard task to accomplish at the Lake Country Land School. When I woke up, I took a nice warm shower and took my time. I had until 11:30 to do whatever I wanted. I played ping pong and took photos until brunch was ready. I ate delicious pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. After that, I had free time all the way until P.E. During P.E. our group played hunger games and other outside team building games. I enjoyed my teammates and had a lot of fun playing hunger games, though I was not very good at it. The game finally finished and we had even more free time. At 4:30, we had daily jobs, which I finished up quickly. At 5:00, I had to report to dinner crew, where I cooked squash soup and other vegetables. I enjoyed the dinner and came up with many funny jokes with my friends. Now that I have finished cleaning up dinner, it is study hall and I am writing this blog. Today was very fun and chill. I had a lot of time to relax and now I am ready for next week.

Photos from 2018 Farm Stay 2 Students

Andrew's Craft Project Close-ups







Friday, October 26, 2018

Spooktacular Saturday October 27th!


The Spooktacular was a success!  We had lots of fun making it happen, and from what I can tell, the people who came and participated enjoyed themselves. A lot of work went into making the event a success. The entire week before the Spooktacular, everyone made plans by figuring out costs, making products, and making all the decorations from scratch. On the morning of the Spooktacular (Saturday) we did most of the physical preparation for the event. We started at 8:30, and continued setup until the event started at 4:00. That morning, we made the maze, cleaned the homestead, set up the dining room, and made our last touches and signs for our products.
The actual event went very well too, and I think the rest of the students would join me when I say that we were surprised that it went so according to plan. Although the even started at 4:00 our parents started coming in at 3:00. Luckily, even by then we had mostly everything done. At 4:00, you didn’t need even need a clock to tell what time it was because everyone started pouring in for the event and the homestead was soon full of people. When it all finally started, I think we were still a little nervous.
Our activities seemed to go according to plan except the “Punkin Chunkin” in the back of the homestead. We wanted to catapult pumpkins but the mechanism wouldn’t work! The maze went far better than my expectations. We managed to scare a couple of people, which surprised me. The hayride seemed fun to people, and my Farmstay mates said that the apple cider press was a hit with the kids. Our products sold really well, and I don't think any one of us on Farmstay were dealt a bad hand in that respect. We all came home with some money for ourselves, but that's not really what we were worried about, at least I wasn’t.
The whole event left me in a good mood. I was happy I got to see my family, some of my friends, maybe meet some other people's families. I’m grateful I got to be a part of the making of the Spooktacular, even if it was just to see what it is like to create such an event. It went really well, and thank you to everyone who came because it wouldn’t be good in the slightest if no one showed up for our Spooktacular!

By Lorenz











Farm Stay 1 Reflections


We had a very fun weekend at the LCS Land School. There was a bunch of free time on Sunday to play ping-pong, foosball, basketball, cards etc. The Spooktacular on Saturday went very well. We'd like to thank everyone who came to support Farm Stay 1 and the Land School. We are very sad Farm Stay is almost over. 

by Lily

Sitting on tree roots I listen to the wind.
An old, peely, shiny birch tree placed next to me.
The strong wind is rustling the leaves above and around me.
The dark, rotting, leaves are turning a golden ochre as the sun sets and glistens
between the skinny old trees.
The clouds pass before the sun and you can see how dark and gloomy the forest really is.  
A dark past this forest must have,
but when the sun begins to shine and the leaves begin to glitter,
you can see hope in the forest.

by Eva


Farmstay one has been three weeks to remember! Especially Halloween.
We went bowling in Menomonie, ate pizza at a restaurant called Lucette, then went trick-or-treating in Menomonie as well.
Each mentor group (Jen’s, Andy’s and Shannon’s) bowled together. We all wore our costumes and had a lot of fun playing around. Before bowling, our E1 mentees came to the Land School so we could meet them.
After bowling, we went to Lucette to eat dinner, which was pizza. It was one of the best margherita pizzas ever.
After that, it was time for trick-or-treating. We walked around a few blocks in a small neighborhood in Menomonie, and then came back to the Homestead to sort our candy. We then danced to songs like “Thriller” from Michael Jackson, and then told some spooky stories.

Overall, Halloween this year was amazing. It was super fun being with everyone, and I think everyone should go on Farmstay, especially #1.

by Audrey

Today at the land school we got to see our E1 mentees we played a game of kickball that ended in a score of 100 to 100. Later on that day we got to go bowling, everyone had a lot of fun doing crazy silly new ways to bowl. We all sort of got bored by the end and were ready for pizza. We then went ahead and got pizza. We all ordered some variation of a Margarita pizza. After that we went trick - or - treating, and some of us talked in a british accent, all around it was a pretty fun day.

by Yasmin

November 1, 2018
It’s our last full day of Farmstay. Today is mostly about wrapping up. Cleaning out our rooms and cubbies, finishing up our projects, doing lots of things for the last time. It’s sad, especially for me because I’m an eighth grader. I’ll never get an experience like this again.
Of course it isn’t all bad. Trust me I’m ready for a nice long shower and my own room again. Plus it’s a beautiful day and we have some really fun things planned. We’re finishing our tie dye Farmstay shirts today and we’re watching Mockingjay part 1, the third movie in the Hunger Games series. It was technically supposed to be gallery night but we made a petition so we could watch the movie instead.
Yesterday was really fun too. Our mentees came, which was a lot went a lot better than I thought it would. I was nervous because I had never met either of mine but they were super sweet and fun to hang out with. After they left we got into our Halloween costumes (I was a person from the 80’s) and left for bowling. I won my first game and almost lost my second game which seems to happen every time I go bowling. When we finished bowling we went to pizza at Lucettes. It was tres delicieux. After pizza we went trick-or-treating. That was nice because I got to stock up on candy. We were all on a sugar high for basically the rest of the night. When we got back to the homestead we sorted our candy and had a dance party. I taught Eva and Yasmin a pretty fun dance routine. All in all a very successful night.

Anyway, tomorrow we’re going home. I’ll get to see my friends and pets again but I’ll never get to be here with these people and have this relationship with them again. This ending is bittersweet but I know I’ll never forget the amazing experiences I’ve had here our the amazing people I’ve had them with.

by Elizabeth


Thursday, October 11, 2018

Fall Leaf ID Hike with Class C students

This week two representatives from Class C came out to enjoy the peak Fall colors and visit the bees with Doug. We photographed and identified many trees.

Sugar Maple from the front yard of the Homestead.

American Basswood

Butternut?

Ash of some sort

Maple with galls.

Doug, pointing out the "Yellow Wood" where two roads might diverge.

Bitternut Hickory

Ash


Red Maple left and Sugar Maple right

Red Oak

Red Oak bottom and White Oak top

Ironwood AKA Hop Hornbeam

Yellow Birch or Muscle Wood (I forget which one it was)

Massive Red Oak leaf from by the Sugar Shack

Cool Sugar Maple leaf that is transitioning to yellow

Black Cherry

Blackberry. Doug thinks we should rename Strawberry Hill to Blackberry Hill

European Buckthorn (Boo! Hiss!)

Paper Birch

Butternut!

Elderberry 

Elderberry

Quacking Aspen

Red Oak with oddly shaped fruit

Prickly Ash