Oh Hello Summer Garden

/

We’ve had a wet start to the summer… but with the first real rays of summer sun and temps up the 80s we’re ready to jump through sprinklers in swimsuits, lick dripping popsicles, and dunk our heads in the stream!

The garden is coming into its own this time of year, cranking out sweet summer berries, crisp carrots, and our first abundant bouquets of flowers. These first weeks of summer students help in the garden by planting seedlings, catching potato bugs and cabbage moths, and harvesting arm loads of garlic scapes.

We love to play in the garden too! Kids love using mortars and pestles to squish flowers and leaves into garden “ink”. We’ve seen some truly stunning creations this year made from not much more than pansies!

Spring School Programs 2023

/

Can you believe it, the school year is already over! We were delighted to have so many hardworking, fun loving students on the farm this Spring. We worked on bog bridges, mucked so much manure, watched lambs be born, and planted out the garden. Thank you to all our wonderful school partners!

It's a Spooky Farm!

/

Something strange is happening on the farm…The sheep are glowing with a strange green light. The chickens are going somewhat translucent in the light of a too bright moon. The ducks have dawned high collared capes and grown inch-long incisors! It can only mean one thing! It’s Halloween on the Farm!

We hope you made it out to the farm on this spookiest of nights! We had games for all ages, a blazing campfire, and a several brawny volunteers churning away at an old-fashioned cider press all evening long. We were delighted by the parade of fabulous costumes that made its way through the farm. Some of my favorite moments include watching a knight in shinning armor go bowling, discussing with the grim reaper whether or not his scythe might make a good hockey stick, and taking a picture with more or less the entire cast of Harry Potter! There was also a young sheep so convincing Farmer Ben felt compelled to double check our flock was fully accounted for.

Thank you to the awesome volunteers who came out to help! Thank you to Clark Brothers Orchards for the use of the cider press and the apples. Thank you to Atherton Farm for helping us out with the pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!!

That’s a Wrap! 2022 Summer Season Comes to End

/

Over the past 7-weeks the farm welcomed over 115 kids to the farm. It was a fantastic summer and we are so proud of the hard work these children accomplished.

Together we took care of the sheep, weighing the lambs weekly, and herding the flock a countless number of times. Each time took a bit of problem solving, teamwork, and communication. We also took our oxen, Jack and Thor for walks daily, keeping them on a steady training routine. And who could forget our goats, Wallace and Gromit! They too enjoyed many walks this summer, albeit they need more training than the oxen. The most popular animals this summer, however, were the chickens. At almost every hour of the day you could see a camper in the chicken coop, holding one of our feathery friends.

Our forest crews did some much needed trail work in the woods, making our paths easier to use. This included new signs along the trail, and lots and lots of brush clearing, and bridge construction too!

The true star of the summer was the garden. Jam packed with color and delicious treats, there was always something to do or eat in the garden. Campers helped plant, harvest, and process produce for meals, construct trellises and make repairs to the garden shed, and identify and collect invasive insects. Campers also made creative snack platters of cucumber, carrots, and berries. We used herbs and flowers to make prints, dye napkins, and useful salves and balms. Students also helped harvest and clean over 100 pounds of fresh produce to donate to our local food pantry!

Summer on the farm is not just about farmwork. We work hard, and we play hard too! Scavenger hunts, fort making in the woods, volleyball catches in the yard, werewolf at night, capture the flag, board games at the picnic tables. The list goes on! There’s so much that happens during a Summer at Red Gate. We can’t wait to do it all again.

February Break 2022

/

It’s been a great week! Thanks to everyone who joined us for February Vacation this year! Here’s a little peak at some of the fun we had.

Families on the Farm

/

We started the Families on the Farm program in October of 2020, six grueling months into the pandemic. We wanted to have kids back on the farm, we wanted to connect to our community, we wanted everyone to feel safe. We decided we’d run a small, simple program where families would be invited to help a staff member do chores. We’d limit the program to one to two families at a time, and we’d ask parents to accompany their children in case they needed help. We would all be masked, we would stay socially distant. 

I remember running Families on the Farm back then–the whole thing was very fun, very funny. How do you explain a quick release hose from six feet away? Or help carry a bale of hay? Or herd sheep? With a lot of detailed instructions, patience, and laughter. Parents stepped up to help when needed, but also spent a good amount of time blown away watching their kids lug full-sized bales of hay up hills, muck stalls, and scrub water dishes (“she’d never do that at home…” one mom whispered to me). 

Just over a year later, we’re still running Families on the Farm. We’ve eased up on the masking and social distancing, but we’ve decided to keep many other elements the same. We love the small, intimate nature of this program. It’s  a great way for us to get to know families. Jody Hopp runs the Families on the Farm now. She appreciates the one-on-one time with the families.

“It’s sweet and the interactions between kids and parents as they work together feel really meaningful. I think parents are surprised by the care and attentiveness their kids show while working with the animals–especially the larger ones!”
— Jody Hopp, RGF Program Director

Interested in coming out to help with chores? We’d love to see you! You can find out more about Families on the Farm on our program page.