Photos from Halloween Event Prep

Pumpkin Seed Harvest

Our friends Ken and Jay have a business pressing and selling pumpkin seed oil. For the past couple years we have grown some of the naked-seed pumpkins and they come over and harvest the striped pumpkins and run them through a machine to process the seeds. They were here on Saturday with a crew.

Halloween Bash

The first annual Halloween Bash at the Land School this Saturday was a great success. It started with pumpkin carving and “ghoulish games” such as pumpkin bowling and pumpkin bocce ball, followed by a potluck dinner. The rest of the evening was filled with scary stories and chatting around a bonfire, and a haunted hike around the property. The hike was scary especially for the little kids, but there was a certain element of horror you got just from walking in the dark, and even the adults were a little jumpy after that. There was hot apple cider, s’mores, crunchy leaves, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and it turned out to be a perfect Halloween and fall event. 

Dorothy and Pheobe

October 31st

            Today is Halloween! Our Halloween bash was a big success! We had our regular day of re-doing the greenhouse and picking potatoes. At 5:00 we got our costumes on and set off for bowling in Menomonie. There we had pizza and bowled for a couple hours. We were planning to go trick-or-treating but realized that there was a curfew at 7:30. We were all disappointed, but Donna and Kate took us out to a town called Boyceville. Not many houses were still open but we got some candy. When we arrived back at the Homestead we were planning to go outside and look at the stars but what we didn’t know is that someone (Donna) was outside with the chainsaw reving it. Of course there was no chain but just the sound made us jump. All and all it was a great Halloween and we all had a bunch of fun. 

Lilly

Halloween Party Thanks

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped make our first ever Halloween party great.

Thanks to the Farm Stay 1 students for all their hard work throughout the set-up, party, and clean-up.

Thanks to Sara N., Dave Z, and Anne for their help with the haunted hike, costume contest and the scary stories.

Thanks to the JH students who came and made improvisational contributions to the haunted hike.

Thanks to all the LCS families who attended and brought their joy and energy to the party.

Andy

Sunday October 30th

Today is the 30^th of October. As you can imagine, for those of us at the farm it’s rather hectic.  Yesterday was the Halloween Bash, and tomorrow is Halloween, when some combination of Kate, Andy, or Donna will take us to a small town to go bowling and trick or treating.  The aftermath of this will be eleven 12-13 year olds hyped up on sugar for the next few days.  As the Farmstay comes to a close, emotions run high and more drama is inevitable. Hope to see everyone soon!

--Emma

Busy at the Land School

It’s been busy up at the Land School in the last few days, harvesting the last of whatever we can for the final Thursday market. We’ve been enjoying fresh potatoes, carrots, and leeks among other things, and we even found a fresh watermelon that had survived the frost and was juicier than many of the cities’ best summer melons. Indoors it’s also been busy preparing for Saturday’s Halloween event. The kitchen is always in use with pies, brownies, cookies, bread, and other treats baking. But within the hustle and bustle of getting ready, we’ve also managed to fit in some foosball tournaments, trips to the tree house, soccer and football, and anything else we have time for.

-Dorothy 

October 28

The day before the Halloween Bash.

Today is the day for the first annual Halloween Bash.  We are all very nervous/ exited for the event and working hard to prepare.  We are planning out the haunted walk, we are planning the games, along with scary stories at the bonfire.  So far all of our events haven’t any breakdowns or major changes and we are all hoping none of those happen in our near future.  I am personally really exited to see how the haunted walk turns out because listening to all of the talk during the preparations it sounds like the peoples on the committee have some really good ideas that if are put into action and work out like they are supposed to, the haunted walk we be really good.  I am also really looking forward to the bonfire, and hopefully some scary stories to bring it all together.

                                                                                    A.J.

Last Harvest Day

Every Thursday morning we harvest and bag crops that we will bring to the market in the afternoon. We call this harvest day. So far we have harvested for 16 weeks.

Today was our last day of harvesting. We harvested many things like leeks, lettuce and broccoli. We also packaged vegetables like potatoes and carrots for the market.  It took a good two hours to harvest all of these crops. The other hour or so was mainly spent washing and packaging the vegetables. We knew we had to finish it all by lunch and started working very hard. We cut the lettuce, washed the carrots and bagged the potatoes. It was amazing getting to see and learn the different foods that were harvested in the summer compared to all of the crops that were harvested in the fall. I look forward to harvest day because it’s a morning where we get to work really hard while also working with our friends and having fun. 

Elsa

Halloween Party Saturday Oct 29th. Please Come!

HALLOWEEN BASH!

WHEN: Saturday, October 29 from 4:00 to 8:00pm

WHAT: A Halloween event hosted by Farmstay 1!

·    Pumpkin Carving

·    Potluck dinner with student-made desserts for sale.

·    Haunted Hike

·    Ghoulish Games, including a costume competition!

·    Bonfire with scary stories

·    Students will also be selling hand made food and crafts such as candles, bird feeders and baked goods.

WHERE: Lake Country Land School (directions on school website)

COME JOIN US!!!

    

Photos from October 26th

extreme Pearl close-up

the path to the Farmstead

Precious

Look closer in the next photo

Red Bellied Woodepecker - Lilly's favorite bird.

Purple Finch - a rarity at the bird blind

Getting Ready for the Halloween Event

As the Halloween event draws closer, everyone works on the wares they are selling. Bread is being baked, candles shaped and bird feeders finished. The Halloween spirit rides the air like the smell of melting chocolate. But outside the cold reeks and wind blows. Today a huge bald eagle swooped down above the Farmstead. The chickens are always hungry and the llamas always the same.

            -Ellis 

Final Market This Thursday

This Thursday (October 27th) is our last official Community Garden Harvest Day of the year. The fall weather has been brilliant, and there is still a lot of produce to harvest. It is a good time to stock up. See you there!

We will be bringing in the following produce:

Arugula
Beets
Bok Choy
Braising Mix
Broccoli
Cabbage and Napa Cabbage
Carrots
Celery Root
Garlic and Garlic Braids
Leeks
Lettuce Mix
Ornamental Corn
Potatoes (Bags for storage)
Pumpkins
Radishes
Rutabagas
Spinach
Tomatoes?
Turnips
Winter Squash

More Farm Stay 1 Photos

Seed Oil Pumpkins

Pearl at the pond.