Winterpast Farm has hosted pre-schools, Scout goups, Mom groups, Homeschooler groups and public school groups.  One time we had 150  second graders here! Farmer Mary hired a few farmer and forestor  friends to help that time!  There is plenty of parking and school buses can get in and out easily.

Activities can be based on ages…all sorts of games, learning about different animals, identifying rocks and trees, planting in the garden, clearing trails, helping with animals, occasionally even making goat cheese or milking goats… Falls Lake is just down the road and Farmer Mary has had track-out camps and summer camps involving lots of play and learning on the beach right down the road.  That’s best during a drought when the sandy beaches get huge!  The Falls Lake Trail is right out her back gate so hiking is another potential activity.

Most school trips involve meeting and feeding and petting animals.  Touching different fibers (sheep, llama) and collecting feathers.  Art activities include drawing an emu and fern splatter paintings.  Rock collecting is popular as is tree identification.

There are great opportunities for team building-if there are 10 children and 6 bunnies how many children have to wait patiently? Rolling up and down the hills in huge black tubes is a time to learn to work together to go faster and have more fun!

Let Farmer Mary know what your group is studying and she can probably come up with some fun activities in line with your particular curriculum. She had pre-schools plant her garden this year…one group dunked peat pellets into water and placed seeds inside, a few weeks later another group planted the plants into the garden and the sunflowers are about 8 feet tall now!

The cost is $5 per person (adopted children are free, teachers are free, parent chaperones pay except babies in arms are free) Your fee goes to feed the animals and sometimes to buy more.  It also will subsidize other groups like Project Enlightment and the Murdoch Center who visit the farm without a fee.

Farmer Mary can also come to your school classroom or camp with animals and provide hands-on fun for students and adults.  The cost varies for on-campus or in-classroom activities: approximately three hours of animals and interaction and education for $100 or $50 for one hour.  Perfect for all ages: summer camps, Vacation Bible Schools, AWANA, home school groups and Scout events.  Campouts and Bonfires are also available.

Farmer Mary’s incubator can, during some months,  come to your classroom or home and then you can deliver the chicks to live at the farm once they outgrow the classroom or home setting.   She can also provide fertile eggs for those with incubators.  After the hatch she’s happy to take the babies to raise.

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