Welcome to Day 1 of Farm Animal Camp! Animals play many important roles on the farm; they provide food, clothing, hard work, and companionship. We will explore animal science as we interact with our horses, sheep, chickens, rabbits, and goats. We will spend the week learning about farm animal behavior and how to interact with and care for animals in the MSU Tollgate barns and pastures.
Animal Chores teach us to care for the needs of our farm animals. Additionally, we’re able to collect milk and eggs from our goats and chickens. Campers will practice tending to sheep, ducks, chickens and goats.
Our STEAM project this week is called Creature Creations. Today, we began the first steps of creating. We started with design plans. Campers were able to design a creature of their choosing (some were made up) that will take form as the week progresses.
Garden Kitchen
Banana Bread Dip
- 2 bananas
- 1 chickpeas, 1 can, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Add bananas, chickpeas, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon to a food processor and blend until smooth. Serve with apple slices for dipping.
Panzanella
- 2 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1” cubes
- 4 slices artisan bread, cut into 1” cubes
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh basil leaves, torn
- 1 clove garlic, or 1 onion, minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
Directions: Cut the tomatoes and place in a large serving bowl. Cut bread into cubes and place on top of the tomatoes. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic. Sprinkle with basil leaves, garlic/onion, and salt and pepper to taste. Scoop from the bottom to serve.
In an activity called Ruminant Buckets, campers learned about and compared the differences between different digestive systems. Some of the animals here at Tollgate have four chambers in their stomachs! Each bucket represented a different portion of the stomach. The chambers are called Rumen, Reticulum, Omasum and Abomasum. Eduleaders prepared buckets to model the way each of the chambers feels. After listening to descriptions of each chamber, campers were asked to reach inside without looking and describe what they felt. Their goal was to guess which bucket represented each chamber.
Haltered Animal Hike
Tie Dye
