MSU Tollgate Farm and Education Center

This week we continued our explorations of plants and the creatures who love them! Farm Sprouts have been asking such big questions, such as: How does it rain? Why do worms eat dirt and make tunnels? How do ants carry their food? How do bees make honey? Each season our investigations take us in different directions as we seek answers to the many questions which support our understanding of our overarching question of inquiry: How does a garden grow? This spring birds and worms, along with their eggs and life cycles, have been of great interest! Plants and their needs and life cycles have also spurred a lot of thought and exploration, especially water and we’ve had plenty of it raining down on us this spring! Fortunately, this week brought us sunshine, prompting another great Farm Sprout question: Why does the sun shine?

This week, Farm Sprouts signed in by voting for pollinator-friendly flowers and stamping pollinators (bees or butterflies) on flowers. Throughout the program, Farm Sprouts explored plants in many different ways, from cutting, dissection, closely inspecting, feeling, and smelling, they are becoming familiar with plants, their needs, their parts, and developing an understanding of the interdependence of the living creatures who call the farm home! We also rely on plants for our survival and spent time working as farmer’s, weighing eggs and preparing veggies for sale at our market. Farm Sprouts experimented with water and plant parts in the sensory table, dug for worms where an old apple tree once grew and continued with creating plant imprints in clay.

For our garden snack this week, we enjoyed a “Rainbow Vegetable Party!” We enjoy this each spring as it encourages Farm Sprouts to be a bit adventurous when it comes to eating from the rainbow. The kale was grown by our C.S.A. program. The community can buy shares of produce grown right here at the farm. Some of our Farm Sprouts families are members! While the program is full this year, be watching for a shorter fall C.S.A. opening up later this year or consider signing up for the 2020 season at the end of the year! It’s another great opportunity to support local food and farmers and to connect children to the sources of their food. It’s a win-win! While we munched, we sang the song, “Vegetable Party” by Laura Doherty. We spotted seeds, identified colors, and finished with fruit and veggie color races.

We hiked in new territory and discovered sweet-smelling flowers, bees busy pollinating, honey bee hives various shades of the rainbow, and a fountain the honeybees adore just as much as the Farm Sprouts. We concluded the day with a Farm Sprouts favorite, Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell.

Next week we wrap up the season with our Celebration of Learning, which includes family wagon rides around the farm! The tractor leaves at 11:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. We look forward to celebrating the end of the spring season and welcoming summer with you!

Interested in learning more about bees as a family? Check out Bee Palooza taking place in the MSU Horticulture Gardens on Sunday, June 23rd!

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” – Janet Kilburn Phillips

This week we continued our explorations of plants and the creatures who love them! Farm Sprouts have been asking such big questions, such as: How does it rain? Why do worms eat dirt and make tunnels? How do ants carry their food? How do bees make honey? Each season our investigations take us in different directions as we seek answers to the many questions which support our understanding of our overarching question of inquiry: How does a garden grow? This spring birds and worms, along with their eggs and life cycles, have been of great interest! Plants and their needs and life cycles have also spurred a lot of thought and exploration, especially water and we’ve had plenty of it raining down on us this spring! Fortunately, this week brought us sunshine, prompting another great Farm Sprout question: Why does the sun shine?

This week, Farm Sprouts signed in by voting for pollinator-friendly flowers and stamping pollinators (bees or butterflies) on flowers. Throughout the program, Farm Sprouts explored plants in many different ways, from cutting, dissection, closely inspecting, feeling, and smelling, they are becoming familiar with plants, their needs, their parts, and developing an understanding of the interdependence of the living creatures who call the farm home! We also rely on plants for our survival and spent time working as farmer’s, weighing eggs and preparing veggies for sale at our market. Farm Sprouts experimented with water and plant parts in the sensory table, dug for worms where an old apple tree once grew and continued with creating plant imprints in clay.

For our garden snack this week, we enjoyed a “Rainbow Vegetable Party!” We enjoy this each spring as it encourages Farm Sprouts to be a bit adventurous when it comes to eating from the rainbow. The kale was grown by our C.S.A. program. The community can buy shares of produce grown right here at the farm. Some of our Farm Sprouts families are members! While the program is full this year, be watching for a shorter fall C.S.A. opening up later this year or consider signing up for the 2020 season at the end of the year! It’s another great opportunity to support local food and farmers and to connect children to the sources of their food. It’s a win-win! While we munched, we sang the song, “Vegetable Party” by Laura Doherty. We spotted seeds, identified colors, and finished with fruit and veggie color races.

We hiked in new territory and discovered sweet-smelling flowers, bees busy pollinating, honey bee hives various shades of the rainbow, and a fountain the honeybees adore just as much as the Farm Sprouts. We concluded the day with a Farm Sprouts favorite, Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell.

Next week we wrap up the season with our Celebration of Learning, which includes family wagon rides around the farm! The tractor leaves at 11:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. We look forward to celebrating the end of the spring season and welcoming summer with you!

Interested in learning more about bees as a family? Check out Bee Palooza taking place in the MSU Horticulture Gardens on Sunday, June 23rd!

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” – Janet Kilburn Phillips

This week we continued our explorations of plants and the creatures who love them! Farm Sprouts have been asking such big questions, such as: How does it rain? Why do worms eat dirt and make tunnels? How do ants carry their food? How do bees make honey? Each season our investigations take us in different directions as we seek answers to the many questions which support our understanding of our overarching question of inquiry: How does a garden grow? This spring birds and worms, along with their eggs and life cycles, have been of great interest! Plants and their needs and life cycles have also spurred a lot of thought and exploration, especially water and we’ve had plenty of it raining down on us this spring! Fortunately, this week brought us sunshine, prompting another great Farm Sprout question: Why does the sun shine?

This week, Farm Sprouts signed in by voting for pollinator-friendly flowers and stamping pollinators (bees or butterflies) on flowers. Throughout the program, Farm Sprouts explored plants in many different ways, from cutting, dissection, closely inspecting, feeling, and smelling, they are becoming familiar with plants, their needs, their parts, and developing an understanding of the interdependence of the living creatures who call the farm home! We also rely on plants for our survival and spent time working as farmer’s, weighing eggs and preparing veggies for sale at our market. Farm Sprouts experimented with water and plant parts in the sensory table, dug for worms where an old apple tree once grew and continued with creating plant imprints in clay.

For our garden snack this week, we enjoyed a “Rainbow Vegetable Party!” We enjoy this each spring as it encourages Farm Sprouts to be a bit adventurous when it comes to eating from the rainbow. The kale was grown by our C.S.A. program. The community can buy shares of produce grown right here at the farm. Some of our Farm Sprouts families are members! While the program is full this year, be watching for a shorter fall C.S.A. opening up later this year or consider signing up for the 2020 season at the end of the year! It’s another great opportunity to support local food and farmers and to connect children to the sources of their food. It’s a win-win! While we munched, we sang the song, “Vegetable Party” by Laura Doherty. We spotted seeds, identified colors, and finished with fruit and veggie color races.

We hiked in new territory and discovered sweet-smelling flowers, bees busy pollinating, honey bee hives various shades of the rainbow, and a fountain the honeybees adore just as much as the Farm Sprouts. We concluded the day with a Farm Sprouts favorite, Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell.

Next week we wrap up the season with our Celebration of Learning, which includes family wagon rides around the farm! The tractor leaves at 11:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. We look forward to celebrating the end of the spring season and welcoming summer with you!

Interested in learning more about bees as a family? Check out Bee Palooza taking place in the MSU Horticulture Gardens on Sunday, June 23rd!

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” – Janet Kilburn Phillips