The Final Farm Camp (of 2015!)

by Breanne Bartok

For our last week of Farm Camp, we decided to shake things up a bit! While our campers certainly got to enjoy time with the chickens and the bees as other camps did, they spent a bit more time learning about soil health and the critters that inhabit our garden at the Outback. 

On Tuesday, Blossoms and Sprouts rotated stations to learn about vermiculture – getting their hands dirty in the worm bin – and digging through the weedy green compost in the garden searching for bugs. From the worm bin to the compost piles to various overturned rocks, we found slimy slugs, curled-up potato bugs, and of course, all sizes of worms. Undeterred by the slime, many campers even had to be heavily coaxed to return our new buddies back to their homes in the ground! 

Wednesday was our day with the Beekeeper. We tasted fresh honey, practiced pumping the smoker used to quiet the bees into a slumber, and watched them busily buzz through a field of flowers. We certainly became experts at not swatting at our fuzzy, buzzy friends. The day wrapped up with singing one of my personal favorite camp songs, “Do You Like to Buzz?”

On Thursday, before preparing a big lunch to share with our grownups, we learned about savings seeds. Campers opened up the pods from kale gone to seed and extracted the tiny black balls hidden within. They then got to decorate their seed packets before carefully harvesting the seeds for the next season.

Our last activity was making Seed Surprises. Campers had helped prepare a “soil potion” that morning of flour, water, oil, and top soil. Alternating between handfuls of dirt and cups of water, we prepared the medium in which we would later enfold wildflower seeds. With luck, they’ll bloom into beautiful flowers for our pollinator friends to feed from and enjoy! 

At last, though, camp this year came to a close. We can’t thank the Outback Farm at Western Washington University enough for sharing their space with us this summer – and letting us eat all the berries, plums, cherries, and other garden yummies we could find! Though Common Threads is done at the Outback for this season, we look forward to seeing our students in some of our school gardens this upcoming year to continue the garden adventures!