The Learning Farm
The Learning Farm is excited to offer Online Distance Learning opportunities this summer through their STEAM in Nature Program. For more information and to register, visit thelearningfarmjuicery.org/our-summer-program.
We are also offering a scholarship program online. Please visit: thelearningfarmjuicery.org for more information
At the Learning Farm, children and families reconnect to the outdoors and discover their connection to local, sustainable food production and shared community meals.
Our mission is to give children the various tools, support, motivation, and rewards necessary to become responsible, knowledgeable, and caring citizens. We do this by fostering a better understanding of where food comes from by connecting kids to their rightful place in the production, distribution, and consumption of sustainably farmed and fished locally-produced food. We want them to grow, harvest, cook and share the great bounty of what grows abundantly nearby and to do so in a mindful and caring way.
The Learning Farm is a tech-forward agriculture and life science learning organization with a goal to have multiple locations to support a deeper understanding of food systems and the natural world for all children around the globe. The Learning Farm is a place where children and their families can immerse themselves in the study of living things, agriculture, and food, as well as have the opportunity to brainstorm and discuss practical solutions to the challenges facing the planet with regard to how we grow food.
Children can become more than just consumers when it comes to food. This is where they learn where food comes from: how it’s grown, how the land and plants can be cultivated for optimal nutrition, land and crop sustainability, how fruits and vegetables are harvested and distributed, gleaned and sustainably farmed, how Planet Kid Juice is healthfully processed and put on the market, and most fun of all, how delicious the foods they prepare in the culinary portion of the program are when they are served to their families and new friends they’ve met at the Learning Farm.
This is where kids can get their hands dirty and explore, and then after lunch, put on lab coats and learn about the chromatography of beverages and the science behind composting. Here, students will learn the meaning and value of bio-diversity: how animals — cows, horses, birds – interact beneficially with orchards, wildlands, woodlands; and how row crops – vines, root veggies, grains – do well right next to bush fruit and berries; and how insects and other beneficials – microbes, mycrorysomes, spongi – are their friends, all going in together to support a healthy and vibrant natural world and great food.
Tiny House Learning Community
The Tiny House Learning Community is a place for gathering, cooking, relaxing, discussing, playing, eating, and having fun. It is a place for learning and creating community. Each of the ten visiting families hosted during each program week will have a tiny house of their own, as living space for the entirety of their week-long stay. This ecovillage community will act as basecamp for all visiting families.
Learning Farm Curricula at Cornell University, Agriculture and Life Sciences
Composting labs
Soils analysis – field & lab
Alternative energy for farms demo and lab
Planting & Harvesting
Organic pest control methodology lab
Orchards – fruit picking, Berry picking, Herb harvesting
Animal husbandry – mini-horses, Angora rabbits, chickens, sheep
Botanical Garden exploration – naturalist tour
Fishery and streams biology exploration
Wildflower sketching craft
Woodlands exploration: What do you hear?: The art of listening / Mushroom identification seminar
Farm machinery demo & quiz
Build a weathervane craft
Farm architecture drawing craft and 3-d model shelter making
Food waste minimization methodology field lab & at-home recommendations lab
Grape stomping & Hand churning
Processing labs, Chromatography labs
Culinary arts – outdoor cooking demo and meal making and serving, ice cream churning, bread making, cheese making, farm to table video, giving thanks
Product Marketing, advertising, Branding lab and craft, social media for small farms
Locate your nearest small farm or local farmers market – take-home geo-cache exercise