Farm Stay 3, February 22 - March 10, 2016

by Julia

March 7

On Farm Stay we have many funny adventures and experiences, one of which has become a symbol of our Farm Stay in a way. This ‘symbol’ happens to be a gourd crafted into a baby. This baby’s name is Gigi.

Gigi came to life during CEPE (Creative Expression, Physical Expression) when we were doing gourd art. People were making luminaries, bowls, pitchers and other such crafts, but a friend and I decided to take it in a different direction, and we glued 1 and a half gourds together to make a little snowman shaped baby. 

That baby got painted and decorated and adorned with beads and ribbon and a crown, and she stays in whatever room we all happen to be in. She is even in our Farm Stay picture. Gigi is the cause of a lot of jokes and laughter. 

Strange things like gourd babies are part of what makes Farm Stay so much fun, and so interesting. Every Farm Stay has it’s unique little funny things, and those things make every Farm Stay really special. I am so happy that we had the opportunity to make that little gourd baby, as she has brought us a lot of laughter.

by Jack

March 7

We had a great pancake breakfast on Saturday! The pancakes were great and we had lots of great crafts and food such as cutting boards, coasters, tea and egg bake. I had a great time getting to see people from my class and especially my family. I had a blast getting to catch up with them on what is happening. My sister just got back from Widji and she was excited to tell me all about it. My brother was very excited to show me that he is now tying his shoes. It seems like a lot has happened since I have been gone. It was also really fun to see my friends and catch up with them on how school is going and just what is happening. I love Farm Stay, I am sad it will be over but I will also be glad to come back and see my friends and family.

by Lilian
March 7

Today we began 

to see spring

snow softly melting

bears tumbling about 

looking for food in faraway forests

the birds softly calling 

the sky turning from a muddy puddle grey to pillow like puffs of satiny silk

we trudge along

muddy boots 

heavy like a soaked through pair of pants

we sit
I hear the wind rustle low amongst the wild whispers of last year’s crops

by Lexi

March 6

Okay, so the pancake breakfast was yesterday, and really busy. Tons of people showed up, and I saw a lot of classmates.

    

The food was good, I liked the banana bread, and my family came, so I guess it was good.

   

(I don’t really know how to write blog posts, as I don’t do them in my free time, but I’ll do my best. Also, I don’t know how long they have to be, or anything. Was I the only one who thought of Watson’s blog on ‘Sherlock’ when a blog was mentioned? )

After all the clean up and stuff it was free time for a bit. I was reading ‘Mockingjay’ when Calvin told me we were going to go out and build snow forts. I wish I could tell you the tale of the laborious build of an impenetrable fortress, and the merciless bombardment that came from it, but I can’t. I was at the tree house.

     

I have no idea what kinds of structures were created, and I’m fine with that. I was sitting on the lower branch, reading. Later, back at the Homestead, we had gallery night, but that was a blur.

   

Today, for the first chunk of the day, I was just in my room. I felt blah, so... eh.

   

We went bowling, though I didn’t feel much like playing, so I watched. We had pizza at a pizza place, but they ran out of pizza crust and we had to split our pizzas instead of each having our own. Oh, the horrors of roughing it over here in wild Wisconsin.

   

I can’t think of any other notable events in the past day or so, but then again, there could be something I forgot to mention right in front of my nose, and I would have forgotten.

   

I don’t know, that’s about it. See y’all in a few days, PEACE!

by TeDabi

March 6

Today was a good day. Whether it was furious games of ping pong, complex chess games with Ben and Clayton, gorging on left over pancakes from yesterday’s Land School celebration, enjoying wood fire pizza, witnessing Calvin scoring 4 bowling strikes in a row, or listening to Eliza and Julia sing songs the whole way back, today was an engaging day. Maybe there were daily jobs and farm chores, but I played Frisbee with Ben, had some intense ping-pong games with Clayton, participated in solitaire with Katie, Calvin and Max, had good conversation with Dietz, and experienced a good ride home. It’s days like these that clearly illustrate how good farm stay is. 

by Grace
March 5

The morning was a rush of activity.  Everyone still quite groggy from the early morning wake-up call, we managed to set up for our pancake breakfast event.  When the guests started to arrive, there was a buzz of excitement in the air, as we all grew excited to see how well our products sold. 

We welcomed, we hosted, we cleaned, we served, and we welcomed some more. This was a process. In the beginning it was stressful, but then everyone began to have a lot of fun. We enjoyed every minute of the wonderful smells floating from the kitchen to the craft area, the lovely rush of friendly people eating their pancake breakfast, and yes, even the aftermath of the busy morning: the cleanup. 

by Eliana

March 5

(Before the event)

Today is the big day of the Pancake Breakfast! I am so excited to see my family and friends and to be able to sell the products I made. I am signed up to be the food cashier and I’m kind of nervous for it because there are a lot of food items to be sold and lots of hungry customers. I did not especially want to wake up an hour earlier than what was normal for us but whenever I have to get up early for an exciting event I am always ready and awake when the time comes. 

(After the event)

Now it is over and it was so much fun!! I was really proud of my group for pulling all of our projects off and almost selling out of everything. The pancakes were also very delicious which made it fun. I did not think we were really going to have a lot of people but we had a fair amount – not too much or too little. In the end it was a fun event and I enjoyed every minute of it.  

by Micah

March 4

Here are some photos of animal tracks found in the Land School woods. These photos are a part of a science project involving observing animal patterns in winter. Using data from animal tracks found all over the Land School, we will make a map of where we found each animal to be the most common. This will be for our Farm Stay science project.

by Eliza 

March 1

Today, the Junior High came to visit the Land School for their stewardship day. I think that there were many mixed feelings from our Farm Stay about taking in many other people into our small community, which we have grown so used to in these past nine days. Despite the large change in numbers in our community, we all split up into our stewardship groups and set to work.

I was in the group titled “facilities”. In the past, our group has usually worked on small things that needed repairing and/or replacing, such as benches, chairs, the entire place where the chickens laid their eggs (we worked on this the first Land School visit), and a few other structures that were in need of our attention. This time, we worked on moving benches to the Homestead, and I moved a small shelf to the bunk house, located by the biffys and the farm house. After we moved these things, our group set off on a hike to examine the bridges that lead across the small ditch where the river occasionally runs through. We were looking for imperfections in them such as crooked tread boards, the bridge being too short from erosion, or a gap in any of them. Once we finished with that, we went to the Tree of Life to retrieve the bench next to it that had been broken, and was in very dire state. We carried this bench from the Tree of Life, all the way to the long barn for it to be replaced or fixed. Finally, we headed back to the Homestead to set up lunch for the Junior High. Thankfully, we had lunch inside, because it was so cold today.

Despite the bitter cold, I had a good time seeing all of my friends again, and re-connecting with them. I surprised myself by actually being excited for the Junior High to come, because yesterday and early this morning I wasn’t completely ecstatic for about thirty more people to enter my home. In a way, their presence was somewhat comforting to me, because we are halfway through with Farm Stay, it is just nice to reconnect, and remind myself of the true mass of the Junior High, and that we as a whole have a lot more than thirteen people. I am so happy that I am part of a Farm Stay experience, because each time I come to the Land School, I just get blown away by the sheer beauty and how special the entire land is, and how fortunate I am to really be a part of this.

by Max

February 28

So far (and I hope in the future), Farm Stay has been very fun. On Saturday, I did some optional work for credit. Calvin, Noah, Jack, and I went out to collect sap from trees. In the first hour, it was only me and Calvin, and the first tree was probably the best one - we only got a half-inch into the tree before it started to drip sap. In the next hour, Noah and Jack joined us and we split up. At 11:00, I broke a drill bit so I had to run back to the homestead to get the electric drill (we had been using the manual hand-drill). I came back with it and it drilled holes in the trees at least 4 times as fast. Then before I knew it, it was 12:00 and time to come back to the homestead. 

After we were done we came back and got rewarded with credits: I got 12, Jack and Noah Got 8, and for the group we got 14 total. Since I got 12 I used one of them to get an ice cream sandwich, it was chocolate-chocolate chip and it was pretty good

by Noah
February 28

The first weekend is always a highlight for Farm Stay because it comes at a time when the group has really started to bond together. It is cool to be hanging out with people that I did not really know prior to Farm Stay. The weekend was full of opportunities like tapping trees, playing The Most Dangerous Game Ever (even though it is not that dangerous) and preparing our Micro Economy projects for the Pancake Breakfast. One of my personal favorite parts about the weekends on Farm Stay is the lack of schedule. This is because it leaves time for you to be relaxed and calm and not hurriedly preparing for the day.

 On Sunday we played a game called The Most Dangerous Game Ever. People get a limited amount of time to spread throughout the Land School. Once everyone is spread out, a person called the Zombie tries to find and tag everyone before they can reach a certain spot called the safe zone. The game was really fun, exciting and a great way to have fun on the first weekend of Farm Stay Three.

by Clayton

February 24

On Wednesday, 2-24-2016, Farm Stay 3 went out into the woods and did a solo sit. This was where we sat down in the snow, away from each other, silently, and looked at the nature.  It was a wonderful experience where it felt like you were completely alone. We were surrounded by nature, in the winter. It was incredible. The woods let you be able to feel calm and really think in this peaceful environment.

I sat against a large oak tree, on a slope, going down to the stream bed. Then I looked out, I saw beautiful white snow covered hills, and on them great leafless trees stood tall and proud. I heard the wind as it softly blew against the trees, and across my face. The view was so pretty.

I enjoyed getting this experience, to really enjoy this wonderful place at our Land School.

Poppin’ Pancake Breakfast!

On Saturday, March 5th in the cozy Land School kitchen, there will be sausage sizzlin’ and pancakes poppin’ in preparation for your arrival at the 2016 Farm Stay 3 Pancake Breakfast!!! Come join us for a festival celebrating the arrival of spring and one of its many treasures, maple syrup!!! We will have a feast of homemade hot poppin’ pancakes and locally made syrup, as well as banana bread, muffins, fabulous fruity fruit, and many more delicious and delectable delights. We, as a Farm Stay, have also created original and handmade crafts such as candles, cutting boards, dish towels, coasters and more!!!! We have been working hard on all of our fantastic products for you, and we’re hoppin’ and  poppin’ with excitement for your arrival here! Remember, this event lasts from 8:30 to 12:00!! We can’t wait to see you there!!!! Love, the hoppin’ poppin’ lockin’ droppin’ polka dottin’ Farm Stay 3 

:)