Farm Day

Last Friday was a special White River School tradition: Farm Day! We had the most glorious of fall days for it and we were outside much of the day, as there were animals and other stations all over our school campus. Students came in so excited that morning and we had a wonderful day learning about some of the types of farming in Vermont, farm animals, the work that farmers do, and some products we buy and eat that come from farming. We asked a lot of questions, got to taste things, and participated in hands-on activities.

We learned that syrup comes from sap, which comes from sugar maple trees. We practiced identifying leaves to tell which was a sugar maple.

 We got to try out drilling a whole in a tree trunk to put the taps in. At least one of us got to sample real vs. artificial maple syrup-- and knew the difference right away!

 Billings Farm was here to teach us how to make ice cream the old-fashioned way. The crank was pretty cranky so we had to work extra hard to make it turn.

 There were oxen here as well. We learned an ox is a male cow that has been trained. We saw them follow commands like gee and haw, and got to brush them. They like to be brushed.

 We really liked sitting on hay bales.

 We met two alpacas, which are related to llamas but smaller. We didn't get to pet them, but we felt their wool in a bag and it was so soft.

 Sheep were a highlight. We watched the sheep get sheared with two types of clippers, one that required an assistant to turn the crank. We also got to see a sheep get his hooves trimmed. The sheep said "baaa" several times but didn't seem to mind the attention.

We saw how to spin wool into yarn and some of us got really hooked on that activity. It did not take a lot of wool to make a long piece of yarn. It was interesting that the wool felt very oily and we learned that was because of the lanolin in it. 

 We got to go on a tractor ride around our school-- and we saw a fox dashing into the woods behind the school while on the ride!

 We saw goats and rabbits here to visit. 

 We got to help with all the steps of making cider. We put apples in the press. We pushed them down with a stick while a friend turned the crank to crush them.

 Finally we got to help press the apples, and tasted the freshest cider possible immediately afterward. There were a lot of bees around the cider station by that point in the afternoon, unfortunately. But luckily we got to head inside after that away from the bees for one more apple-related activity. Mrs. Haynes, who had donated apples from her family's apple orchard, taught us about apple picking bags and ladders.

 We got to see the process of making applesauce-- and had to figure out why it was pink even though there were no ingredients other than apples. And of course, we got to taste it.

 Mrs. Haynes led us in some apple tasting. We got to try McIntosh, Northern Spy, Red Delicious, and Cortland. It was really interesting to see what each of us liked best and to reflect that we all have different tastes.