Pumpkin Patch 2013!

What is that I sense on the horizon... starlit horse-drawn wagon rides, straw-bale mazes, fresh-pressed apple cider?... it can only mean one thing...

Guidestone’s 7th Annual Pumpkin Patch and Harvest Festival 

October 11-13, 2013

It is fast approaching and there are plenty of reasons to be excited for this year’s Pumpkin Patch! Kicking off the weekend on Friday will be our programs for school and youth groups, allowing them to experience all the excitement of the Pumpkin Patch before the gates open to the public. To learn more about this opportunity, click here.

Friday evening will be a first for the Pumpkin Patch, featuring a Gala Dinner. Local foods will be a highlight with dinner provided by Salida’s own Kalamatapit Catering. The night will also feature live music by Simpler Times Bluegrass, moonlit rides on a horse-drawn wagon to the twinkle-lit pumpkin patch, and a nice warm bonfire to round out the evening. Tickets for Friday night are $35 and sure to sell out, so get yours here!

On Saturday and Sunday we’ll have all the staples you’ve come to expect - horse-drawn wagon rides to the pumpkin patch, tractor rides, crafts and children’s activities, face painting, pony rides, chicken bingo, great food and live music - and some new activities to keep the harvest fresh - a storytelling station for younguns, field games for the older kids, a family photo booth on Saturday to capture the moment (proceeds to support the Two’s Program) - all culminating in a one-of-a-kind family festival on the historic Hutchinson Ranch. Get your tickets here: $5/day in advance, or $7 at the door. 

All entrance fees and bake sale proceeds go towards supporting Guidestone's Farmhands Youth Education Programs. And it really does take a village to make it all come together, so if you want to have a great time and support a good cause, please volunteer! You can find a detailed list of volunteer shifts here, indicate your preference and we’ll get right back to you. 

The Pumpkin Patch also welcomes sponsorships, of which there are various levels suitable for any business looking to support wellness, local agriculture, or place-based education for youth. If you are interested in being a sponsor for the event, please click here for more information. Thanks!

Special thanks to our sponsors Mt. Princeton Riding Stables, LiveWell Chaffee County, Boathouse Cantina, & Landmark Surveying and Mapping.

For more information go to www.guidestonecolorado.org or contact gunnar@guidestonecolorado.org

We hope to see you there!

Back to School

As the school year starts, Guidestone’s education programs expand to include both field experiences and classroom-based work, partnering with teachers in the Salida School District, and this year we’ll be building on some of the exciting work we began last year.

Guidestone had the privilege to partner with with an amazing team during the second semester of last school year to bring the “Food for Thought” curriculum, developed by Cathy Schmelter of An Ounce of Nutrition, to Salida High School. “Food for Thought” highlights the value of eating healthy in all aspects from personal health to the economic and environmental benefits of local foods. The idea for the curriculum emerged when Schmelter realized the dearth of nutrition education materials for youth, and that some real physical consequences of this were manifesting as diseases, like diabetes, in children that had previously only been seen in adults.

After a successful pilot year in Denver schools in 2012, LiveWell Colorado recognized the need for nutrition education in rural parts of the state, such as Chaffee County where childhood obesity rates are 6% above state average, and funded the pilot of “Food for Thought” in 5 high schools across Colorado, which included Salida High School. Education Director Andrea Earley Coen and Farm to School Program Manager Margaret Fitch worked every week with Deb Bass’ senior English course English through Sustainability both in the classroom and the Salida School Garden on Holman Ave. Guidestone is thrilled to have been a part of this opportunity to work with Cathy, Deb and her students, and to have this unique, comprehensive curriculum for  use in future youth education programs. 

While “Food for Thought” won’t be taught this semester in English through Sustainability our partnership with Bass’ class will continue. Gunnar Paulsen, Guidestone’s AmeriCorps VISTA, will work with students to market the Garden to Cafeteria Project through news pieces, radio stories, video blogs, and social media. So keep your eyes and ears peeled! The purpose of that work will be to help high school students learn about sustainability and environmental stewardship while honing communication skills that will serve them well throughout their professional lives.