Hello again!

Fall is definitely here and that means that most of our plants in the area are ready for harvest! That’s exactly what our day was all about: fall harvest. Before we went off into the Heathcote gardens in search for ripe fruit and vegetables to pick, we first gathered some thoughts on what is typical for this season and why fall is the biggest harvest season. Some of the students’ first thoughts (of course!) were the bright, fast changing color of the leaves. Other ideas were: cooler weather, beginning of a new school year,  Halloween, warmer clothes, wind, leafless trees … As we went outside we noticed that even the leaves on some of the plants we were about to harvest fruit and vegetables from had changed and were starting to become brown. At first the students were a little confused about the fact that the plant was seemingly dying, but still growing fruits / vegetables. Little did they know that they had just found their answer as to why fall is the best harvest time of the year. As we examined the plants a little closer we noticed that the leaves were indeed dying and falling off. The fruit and vegetable on the plants though were still growing! We even discovered flowers still in bloom! The children came quick to the conclusion that this must be where the plant is investing its energy in. And after taking a closer look to the fruit and vegetables it became clear why plants do this: the fruit and vegetables carry the seeds! While harvesting we then spoke about how plants spread their seeds. “Maybe some animals don’t eat all of the fruit / vegetable and some seeds fall onto the ground? Birds eat the berries and then poop the seeds out while flying! The fruit / vegetable fall on the ground and the seeds grow again next year” were just a few of the students ideas. Our harvest included cultivated but also wild edibles: strawberries, wild grapes, beans, peas, tomatoes, dandelions, ground cherries, green onions, corn … nibbling while harvesting was allowed! 🙂 And as our stomachs started to rumble we all took some of our harvested food and added it to our morning snack.

After snack we were on our way to the Farmer’s Pantry to get a closer look at where our food actually comes from. While walking around on the farm we focused on three main topics of harvesting:

1. What is harvesting?
2. What is needed to harvest?
3. What happens with the harvest?

Looking at the buildings, machinery, speaking to the local farmers and of course, after petting and feeding every single farm animal at least 10 times it began to become clear that a lot more was involved in harvesting than simply picking an apple from a tree. The children realized that a lot of people were needed to not only grow the food, but maintain it, harvest it and also transport it to stores after the food had been picked. To become more aware of the amount of food that is grown in one single farmer’s field we walked about the apple orchards and counted the rows of apple trees and counted the amount of apple trees planted in a single row. Afterwards we estimated about how many apples grew on a single tree based on the apples we had found lying on the ground beneath it, the apples that were still in the tree and the estimated amount that had already been picked. We all took our guesses and the numbers varied between 1000 – 1 000 000 apples in one farmer’s field. According to our calculations: the Farmer’s Pantry has about 450 000 apples growing in one field. 

After returning to the Heathcote property I asked the children to think about natural factors that are necessary to make a fall harvest possible. Some of the children’s thoughts were: seeds, farmers, plants, rain, sunshine, earth, workers, trucks, tractors, machines, customers, animals, pesticide, … Therefore, a good fall harvest depends on a lot of things and needs just the right conditions to make everything bloom and grow. We are very fortunate to have all of this right here in our area! With Thanksgiving approaching, the big fall harvest reminds us of our luck!

After our many conversations about fall harvest today and our encounters at the Farmer’s Pantry, the students went to their sitspots with their journals to reflect on what is meaningful in their very own lives and to take some time to experience gratitude for their individual fortune.

Next week: ponds (or rivers!)

See you then, Tamara

Hello again!

On this warm end-of-summer-day we sure had a lot going on! Our core group of kids were all present today, so after everyone had arrived and briefly met through some wild climbs and swings on the Tarzan rope, we began our day with our forest school morning routine: smudging. Our ‘old-timer’ forest school students eagerly explained to our new forest school students what it’s all about: bathing yourself in the smoke of the burning sage (quote:’But not naked!’), getting rid of negative energy and letting good one in. After this we made sure that everyone made their medallions and found their very own spot to hang it up in the forest school. Throughout the year the students will be able to receive different beads for different accomplishments and achievements. ( see full list of beads here )

It was also time for the students to find their very own sitspot on the property: a place up high or surrounded by trees or on the comfy sofas of the school house? Everyone has a different preference! While some students knew right away where they wanted to have their sitspot, others strolled around the property once more to find the best spot. Once everyone had found a suitable place a first journal entry was made: a drawing of their unique spot and maybe also some words as to why they chose exactly this spot.

After getting to know some first forest school routines and engaging in exploratory play on the Heathcote property it was time to get to know each other better too! We played different games to help memorize our names and learn about each other’s favorite animals (the bum-scratching-gorilla!).

What would a (summer) day at forest school be without frog-catching? There were fewer frogs to catch this week, but the excitement is always the same! A book from the library ‘Reptiles & Amphibians of Southern Ontario’ helped us identify the different species: Green Frog and Leopard Frog.

After lunch it was time for our big survival training! To begin with, we spoke of which situations and occurrences might bring us into a survival situation: from plane crash to volcano eruption, the thoughts came fast and we came up with well over 20 situations in which we might find ourselves struggling to survive. We wanted to make sure we don’t struggle to survive but know how to manage to survive! So on our survival journey we looked at 5 major aspects:

• First up: edible plants! Finding the right food outside is essential for surviving. Which plants are edible and not is really important. We found the following plants on the property and tried them all: dandelion (everything is edible), golden rod (yellow flowers are edible), raspberries (berries are edible), wild grapes (grapes and tendrils are edible), touch me nots (only the seeds are edible!). We also spoke of other local plants that we know are edible such as blueberries, apples, pears, fiddle heads, blackberries and some type of mushrooms.
• Next we got to know some different knots and tried them out: in a survival situation this could provide us with proper attachment methods for a shelter for example. Some of the knots we learned about today:  overhand, overhand on a bite, figure 8, noose, clove hitch, weaving knot ….
• Time to put our knowledge to the test: building a shelter. Luckily our chosen catastrophe scenario left us a tarp (with some holes) which we used to build our shelter. We hung it up between some fallen over trees so get some protection from the elements. After we were finished and some what satisfied with our temporary solution, we decided to leave the shelter in order to be able to keep on working on it 🙂
• After all the gathering, learning and building it was time for a little break by a fire. But how to make a fire without matches and firewood? Gathering, learning and building again! We gathered lots of seeds from thistles (white, fluffy and very flammable!) as tinder and began using our magnesium flint to create sparks by scraping a knife against it. It didn’t take long at all for sparks to fly into the pile of white fluff and ignite a short lasting flame! we managed to get a small fire going, but it was hard to maintain it as the ground was still very damp from all the past rain.
• Last  but not least: Water! Where to get water from? Lots of ideas came up right away: puddles, rivers, collect rain water, springs … which is all correct! But this water might be bad for us and make us very sick. Luckily, the kids knew a solution to this problem: boil the water!

Overall this was a very good and exciting day! We were lucky to have the weather on our side and hope to be able to enjoy this fantastic summer weather just a bit longer!

Next week: canoeing & fishing

Tamara