Farmhands 2014 Summer Programs Lead Instructors

This summer Guidestone has three lead instructors for our Farmhands Youth Education programs held at the Salida School Gardens on Holman Ave., the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch & Learning Center in Salida, The Morgan Center for Earth Literacy in Poncha Springs, and The Meadows Farms in Buena Vista. Here they are! Say hi if you see them around town and ask them what their favorite part of Farmhands is. They're pretty friendly, if you can't tell.

Ann Colbert 

Growing up in Colorado, Ann spent lots of time in the wilderness and in the garden developing a passion for the natural world, which inspired her to pursue a career in environmental studies. Ann has a BS in Natural Resources from Colorado State University and a MA in Teaching from Colorado College. Ann has worked as director and program instructor for a variety of land management agencies and non-profits in Colorado. Ann is currently Guidestone’s Education & Interpretation Specialist.

Karen Fortier

Karen combines two great loves in her life – teaching children and growing food – in her position as Education Specialist for Guidestone’s Farm to School Program. After spending 19 years in Alaska working as a Resource Education Park Ranger, she and her family moved to the Upper Arkansas Valley with the dream of growing more of their own food.

Suzanne Ward

Suzanne Ward is a Colorado native and a fourth generation farmer in the Arkansas River Valley. She and her husband Dave own and operate The Morgan Center in Poncha Springs, Colorado, where they do the Sacred Work of agriculture and Earth Literacy Education. Suzanne has a degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado, a teacher's certificate from the University of Alaska and a Masters in Education from Regis University in Denver. She taught grades preschool to sixth in the public schools for 25 years. Suzanne spent a year on an organic farm in New Jersey in 2004, where she interned teaching Earth Literacy. She has certificates in Master Gardener, Master Food Safety and Food Preservation, and Permaculture. Suzanne and her husband, Dave, co-founded and serve on the board of the Central Colorado Foodshed Alliance. Earth Education and reviving local foods are her passions. 

Farmhands and the Art of Growing Food

Guidestone’s Farmhands Youth Education programs have one overarching goal that guides every one of our programs: to teach kids the art of growing food. ‘Art,’ derived from the Latin ars, can refer to “a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice.” The art of growing food incorporates many different elements - like learning a sport or a musical instrument - yet when combined creates a skill that is a comprehensive whole that can be honed over time through practice, dedication, and joy. The art of growing food can be developed everyday - whether we’re in the garden, at a restaurant, in the kitchen, or at the market.

Guidestone’s Farmhands Youth Education programs get kids started down the path towards the art of growing food by first introducing them to the sheer sensory joy of beingconnected to the earth and its systems that allow us to grow food. You just can’t stop kids from having a good time when it comes to this stuff, whether they’re welcoming chickens to their new coop at the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch and Learning Center by preparing roosts and nesting boxes, or helping plant, weed, and harvest vegetables from the Salida School Garden that will eventually be served in local school cafeterias.

We hope that our Farmhands participants always continue to revel in the wonderful intersection of nature and culture that is agriculture, and bring this interest forward with them in life. As adults, no matter what their professions and interests become, we hope their Farmhands experiences in the art of growing food will help them to be thoughtful consumers and instill a lifelong respect for food and the people that produce it.

If you have little ones, please join us this summer for an exciting lineup of programs in Salida at the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch and Learning Center, the Morgan Center for Earth Literacy in Poncha Springs, and the Salida School Gardens. From gardens, to pigs, chickens, sheep, and goats, and historic homesteaders, we’ve got it all! 

Click HERE for more info on all our offerings this summer and to sign-up. And if you believe in what we do, consider helping Guidestone reach its “Spring for Guidestone!” campaign fundraising goal of $10,000 before July 9th by making a donation here so we can continue providing great programming like this for years to come. Thank you so much!

*written by Guidestone's OSM/VISTA member Gunnar Paulsen

Pumpkin Patch Thank You

On behalf of Guidestone’s Staff and Board of Directors, we would like to extend a resounding thank you to everyone in the community who participated in our 7th Annual Pumpkin Patch & Harvest Festival, held again this year at the Hutchinson Ranch. It was a wonderful weekend of festivities and we are grateful to all the attendees, volunteers, sponsors and partners that helped make the weekend a success!

We would like to specifically thank the following individuals and organizations for helping make the Pumpkin Patch such a great event: Art & Abby Hutchinson and the staff and animals of the Hutchinson Ranch, Ralph Ogden of Mt. Princeton Riding Stables and his team of wranglers, draft horses and ponies, Dennis Fischer and his ’44 John Deere tractor, Ryan O’Brien for this year’s festive poster, Michelle Gap and Jeff Yoder of the Hey Bird Food Truck by Kalamatapit Catering, members of 4-H for pony rides, Dave Ward & CCFA for their cider press, Seth Roberts of Weathervane Farm, Mark Rittman from The Maverick Potter, Steph Perko & Terrie Brewer from Kaleidoscope Toys, Tami Deal and her African pygmy goats, and all of our hard-working and positive volunteers: Tom LeBaron, Carol McIlvaine, Samantha Lane, Katy Grether, Kathi Wardlow, Leisa Glass, Charis Cheeseman, Ann Colbert, Karen Lacy, Karen Fortier, Mark Zander,  Becky Nelson, Angie Jensen, Josh Visitacion, Anne Oliver, Jennifer Veazey, Dennis Gage, Danielle Riggio, Andrea Carlstrom, Reece, Ison, Monica and Andy White, Hazel Rittman, Leslie Champ, Kristine Smock, Sheli James, Ross Kontz, the Vineyards Youth Group, members of the SHS cross-country team, Deb Bass & her SHS students, George Mossman’s SMS 6th grade class, Christi Delaney & members of the SHS Key Club, Robin Lewis & the SCC AgriCorps crew, Talmadge Trujillo and students from Horizons Exploratory Academy.

Thanks as well to the following musicians for sharing their talent and creating such a festive atmosphere! Simpler Times Bluegrass, Scott Adams, Dave Tipton, Dan Woodbird, Stephen Smalzel, Salida Brass and Chris Nasca.

We also would like to thank the following businesses for their generous sponsorships: LiveWell Chaffee County, Natural Habitats Design/Build, Boathouse Cantina, Landmark Survey & Mapping, Rebound Physical Therapy, Brady’s West, Moonstone Farm, Nordstrom Design LLC, Flynn, Wright & Fredman LLC, Pinto Barn, Assurance Partners, and to the following businesses for their donations and contributions: Amicas, Chip Peddler, City on a Hill Coffee & Espresso, Fringe, Izze, Kaleidoscope Toys, Moonlight Pizza, Mountain Phoenix Coffee Roasters, Murdoch’s, Ploughboy, Salida Bread Co., The Salty Wench, Simple Foods, Sunshine Market, Sweeties and Vino Salida.

All of the proceeds from the Pumpkin Patch go to support Guidestone’s Farmhands Education Program, which provides hands-on, experiential farm & ranch education programs to school groups, children and families. Guidestone is a Chaffee County-based non-profit dedicated to strengthening the local food economy through the preservation of agricultural resources and education.

Community support is invaluable to the success of these programs, and we are grateful to be part of such an enthusiastic community that supports local food and local agriculture. Thanks again, and best wishes for a cozy winter.  

Warm regards,

Guidestone Staff: Jennifer Tucker Visitacion, Andrea Earley Coen, David Lynch, Margaret Fitch, & OSM/VISTA Gunnar Paulsen

Guidestone Board: Tom Pokorny, Jane Fredman, Benjamin Kahn, Brian England, Natalie Amaroso, Erin Oliver, and Derald Brady.

For more information about Guidestone, visit www.guidestonecolorado.org

ps. to see more photos from the 7th Annual Pumpkin Patch & Harvest Festival, visit Guidestone's Facebook page!

What is a "VISTA"? Let me explain!

Poverty. That’s what I’m here to address. Ridiculous, right?

My name is Gunnar Paulsen and I am Guidestone’s AmeriCorps OSM/VISTA member from July ’13 to ’14. AmeriCorps VISTA. What is a “VISTA” you ask? Well, it stands for Volunteers in Service to America and is a national program that places individuals in year-long, full-time volunteer positions with non-profits and government organizations across the country. The mission of a VISTA member is to build the capacity of his or her host site - to increase what that particular organization can do, whether it is through community outreach and volunteer coordination, fundraising, or improving organizational operations. To be awarded a VISTA from the National Corporation for Community Service, which lasts for three years, a host site must address some aspect of poverty in its mission. 

Poverty is obviously a large and daunting problem, and rather than existing as a single “problem,” it might more accurately be described as a complicated matrix of social, economic, racial and geographic factors. See, even defining it is hard. To learn about its multifaceted causes and cycles, VISTA sends each incoming member to a Pre-Service Orientation. Last month I attended mine. It was held at a hotel on the outskirts of Denver, and was comprised of over 200 other new VISTAs who were also starting service terms all across the country. I met folks who would be serving in Washington D.C.; Austin, TX; New Orleans; the Navajo Nation; Baltimore, MD; and even a few others serving in rural Colorado. 

When I first heard what many of these folks would be doing with their service term - working with organizations that mentor the children of incarcerated parents, teaching financial literacy to new immigrants, and providing free legal advice to disadvantaged persons, and all mostly in urban centers - I was intimidated and felt pretty out of place. It seemed like they would be combating poverty in a very direct way, and it was hard to see how Guidestone fit into the particular VISTA paradigm. Then I got to thinking.

Guidestone’s mission is “dedicated to strengthening the local food economy through preserving agricultural resources and educating for ecological literacy,” and while at first glance that doesn’t seem to directly address poverty - the connections certainly aren’t as apparent as my fellow VISTAs’ missions, right? - Guidestone’s mission does address poverty at a root level. 

Guidestone works towards its mission through three main programs. Through the Garden to Cafeteria program - which delivers fresh produce from the Salida School Gardens on Holman Ave. to all three Salida School District cafeterias for incorporation into meals - we vigorously combating Chaffee County’s above average obesity rates (26% of residents are obese, thats 6% above state average) by working with the most vulnerable among us, children. A result of food insecurity and lack of proper nutrition, obesity has been declared a national epidemic by health-care professionals nationwide, and childhood obesity - which has increased three-fold in the last three decades - is even more damaging because it is often a lifelong sentence to ill health and socioeconomic disadvantage. Directly, produce from the garden reaches 1,085 students, 180 staff, and hundreds of families. As the garden expands to reach its 4 acre capacity, it will supply 99.9% of the School District’s vegetables and 10% of its fruit, totaling 5,190lbs. By working with key community partners to incorporate the garden and nutritional education into school curriculum we believe that we can have a strong impact on obesity rates long term in Salida. 

The next facet of Guidestone, our Farmhands Youth Education Program, while it doesn’t explicitly frame its mission as such, also takes a long view towards combating poverty. Farmhands seek to re-connect children with their natural environment, to show them where healthy food comes from and how it is grown or raised. In addition to combating the spiritual poverty that is rife within contemporary mainstream culture - which has little to no value for nature, reflection, history, or community - these programs increase regional access to quality educational programming. We hope these programs foster a lifelong curiosity and facilitate positive connections to the natural world for each child that experiences them. Such a goal is hard to measure quantitatively, but after spending a summer co-teaching the kids at Guidestone’s immersive 4-day camps I truly believe that they will hold onto the creativity and wonder of childhood throughout their lives, and that that positive energy will guide them through meaningful, successful lives.

The Farmhands in action.

Lastly, Guidestone’s Colorado Land Link program, which is designed to make connections between retiring farmers, ranchers, and landowners and connect them with aspiring agricultural producers, guiding both parties through this delicate process. This service is greatly needed in a time when the financial viability of ranching and farming is diminishing, rendering offers of cash buyouts from developers seeking land and water all too tempting. By having strong agricultural producers in the region, the local economy is strengthened, community access to high-quality foods increases, alternative and entrepreneurial business models thrive, and the unique character and history of the state and region are preserved. If we fail to preserve our agricultural lands for agricultural purposes, we will continue to depend on a fossil fuel based food economy, which is unhealthy for our planet and our bodies.

And that is how I’ve come to see Guidestone’s mission and how it relates to VISTA’s. During my time here, I’ll work for Guidestone to develop a master operations calendar, write grants for funds and services, write case-studies of successes in our Land Link program, handle most communications and social media, and recruit and manage volunteers.

While my time here won’t immediately raise anyone above the federal poverty line, which at $11,490 for an individual or $23,550 for a family of four annually is hardly a bar worth shooting for, I do hope that I can help Guidestone serve its mission and continue to expand the reach of its programs. In turn I hope that leads to more self-reliant, food-rich, and inter-connected communities across the Upper Arkansas River Valley and Colorado. At the end of my term, I will be just one small part of VISTA’s 48 year, 180,000 member legacy of serving throughout America to expand the capacity of homegrown efforts to address poverty in communities. And thats a legacy of which I’ll be proud to be a part. 

Gunnar Paulsen, Guidestone's first OSM/VISTA, looking fondly over his new home.

Wrap up for Farmhands summer programs

Sunflowers are in the last stage of their bloom, hay is being cut and bailed, and school is already back in session. These are all indicators that Fall is approaching all too quickly in the Upper Arkansas Valley, but here at Guidestone the most surefire indicator that the seasons are changing is that we’ve wrapped up the last of our 2013 Summer Farmhands programming. Our office at the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch & Learning Center is quiet - the constant cries of elation have moved on to other pastures.

With the change of seasons comes a time for reflection, and this Farmhands season provides

Spending time with favorite chicks in the coop at Farm Camp

Guidestone ample material for that. By all measures it has been our most successful season yet! We debuted our new 4-day camp model, hosting 10 differently themed camps throughout the summer at three sites: Moonstone Farm, the Hutchinson Homestead, and Salida School Gardens - Holman Ave. site. These camps attracted over 90 students throughout the summer, many of whom were committed repeat campers. The diversity of sites where we held programs also contributed to the breadth of our summer programs. We partnered with the Morgan Center for Earth Literacy in Poncha Springs for the first time this season, which hosted our Little Sprouts, Garden Explorers, and Junior Farmers programs, which afforded the Farmhands kids the opportunity to get good and garden dirty while participating in food production firsthand.

As we reflect on what went well this summer, we will also be thinking hard on how to make our programs even better for next season. An essential part of that is the feedback we get from the Farmhands’ parents, our instructors, and the kids themselves. 

That said, we’re ready to let summer go here at Guidestone and welcome the crisp mornings and warm colors that fall will bring, because with them comes our annual Pumpkin Patch Event! Save the date for the fun filled weekend of October 11-13 when there will be horse-drawn carriage rides with the wranglers from Arkansas Valley Trail Rides, a steak dinner and live-auction, music, children’s activities, pony rides, food, and of course... pumpkins! All at the Hutchinson Ranch.

Ranch Camp & The Return of Sneaky Coyote

Ranch Campers sporting their well deserved gift from Coyote.

Ranch Camp, one of our favorites here at Guidestone, started with a bang as Sneaky Coyote “stole” all the campers backpacks! Luckily, he’s not a pernicious coyote, only a sneaky one, which means that he left a riddle to lead the campers back to their packs, imploring them to “Learn from the land, hear the stories it tells - In forest or pasture, or down in a well - In trees, hay yards, ditches or crates - All of these places... Magic awaits! In 3 days time I will give you a test - So practice up now and pleez do your best.” And sure enough, Sneaky Coyote visited camp each day unseen by anyone - instructors included! - playing pranks on the campers and leading them on a scavenger hunt that employed their knowledge of everything they’d learned about ranching on the last day. Coyote tested their knowledge of milking, branding, horse breeds, irrigation, and daily life from historic homesteading days, rewarding the hardworking campers with their very own bandana.

Belle and Leonard Verhoeff sharing stories.

A lesson in saddle crafting.

Tooling leather.

Most fascinating about coyote’s antics on the ranch, which is what every camper remembers throughout the year and comes back to camp asking about, is the sheer sense of wonder that he evokes in the kids; wonder in the natural world, the sense that around every bend in the river an adventure awaits, or that even in a blade of grass or a ditch there is mystery and fun to be found. It was truly a thrill to see 15 eager faces light up when they realized that coyote had made off with the lassoes with which we were about to practice roping an cow skull and see every one of those faces race with all haste to find the lassoes in the pig shed.

They call him Slim

A Cowgirl in uniform.

There was also plenty of fun and wonder to be had between Sneaky Coyote notes, especially with our visitors to camp. On Tuesday Belle and Leonard Verhoeff came to camp, and in the historic Hutchinson Homestead house gathered the campers in the parlor to share stories from their life of ranching in Park County. The kids were rapt, every one of them, with the stories of misadventure from a different time. However, they were even more interested in the wild buffalo skull and horns that Belle and Leonard brought to show them, dug from beneath layers of river silt and potentially filled with petrified buffalo brain...

Wednesday, Dennis Fisher, came to share some of his Cowboy Poetry, songs, and stories with the group to much critical acclaim. Some highlights included how he acquired the name ‘Slim’ and why you never want to make the camp cook on a cattle drive angry.

We closed out Ranch Camp with a genuine hoedown. The kids sang a song crafted at camp to their parents before leading them outside to square dance as Guidestone’s own Andrea Coen fiddled and called the dance. What a sight! The festivities were capped with ice cream made that day at camp with everyone taking a turn to churn. It was a great week of learning about the history of ranching in Colorado and the operations of a modern day ranch, all filled with fun. As Sneaky Coyote would say, “HA HA! HOO WHEE!” what a week!

Square Dancing at the Hoedown

June Farmhands Programs at the Hutchinson Homestead

The last few weeks here at Guidestone’s headquarters have been packed! Beginning June 17-20 there was a true farmyard scene at the Hutchinson Homestead for Farmhands’ Animals on the Ranch Camp.

Delbert the donkey! 

Jasper leads the llamas through the pasture.

First off, our 22 (!) campers got to meet a few residents already on the ranch, including Smoky and Bucky the horses, Delbert the ever-sociable donkey, and Stella the milk cow. Everybody had a chance to see these animals in action, whether by milking Stella or watching as Smoky got shod (thanks to local farrier Harry Hansen for that great show!). In addition to the ranch locals, we also had some visitors: Little Red and Bunny the pack llamas from Bill Gardiner at Antero Llamas, a duo of Boer meat goats from Ellen Kelly at El Regalo Ranch, a flock of young laying hens from Guidestone’s own Andrea Coen, and a pair of turkeys from the homestead of Leisa Glass. Whew! At the end of the week the kids had a solid sense of all the different animals on the ranch and their product - whether it be fiber, meat or dairy. 

Campers meet the El Regalo's boer kids.

Perhaps the more important synthesis of the week’s activities was the kid’s gradual discovery that ranches provide a home not just for domestic animals, but also for a wide variety of wild critters that might not have a home if not for the landscape of the ranch. While out in the field we tuned our senses in to look for signs of wildlife, and boy did we find plenty! From the carcass of a red-tailed hawk, red-winged blackbird nests in the pasture, deer tracks, and beaver dams it seemed like everywhere we looked we saw evidence of a healthy ecosystem. 

Laundry! Everybody's favorite pastime.

The good turnout continued the following week with 20 eager kids coming to the ranch to learn traditional homesteading skills during People on the Land. Over the course of the week camp participants got to try their hands at making butter, soap, and candles, spinning wool into bracelets, hand-washing laundry (who would’ve thought that’d be such a hit?), and even take a few swings at the blacksmith’s anvil when Jamie Monroe and his assistant Matt came to demonstrate how Annabel Hutchinson and company would’ve made their own tools in the late 1800s. 

At week’s end, the general consensus among the group was that the hard work that would’ve been demanded of them as homesteader children would have been... hard! Perhaps the chores are fun in short doses, with all your buddies doing them with you, but in the end the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of modern conveniences. 

Eager blacksmith apprentices. 

In addition to an appreciation for the austere elements of life in the homesteading era, the kids started to grasp the connection between every material aspect of their lives and the land they live on - from the butter that comes straight from a cow’s udder, the warm  clothes spun from fiber-bearing animals, or the objects that populate their lives' origins as materials mined from the earth. By seeing the whole cycle on a few of these simple products, the kids were able to, after some pronunciation lessons, identify their role in the cycle of producer-consumer-decomposer. 

Farm-fresh soap!

Reflection in the homestead.

Farmhands - Water & Landscape on the Ranch

July is already upon us here at Guidestone and Farmhands programs have been in full swing. June 10th  - just as Guidestone tried to contain its glee over moving into our new headquarters at Hutchinson Homestead Visitors Center - we kicked off summer programming just outside our office doors by welcoming an enthusiastic group of kids to Water and Landscape of the Ranch.

Abby Hutchinson leads the fearless irrigators!

We began the week with a quick game to orient us to the geography of water that provides the foundation of ranching in the Upper Arkansas Valley: from the South Arkansas’ origins to the west along the snow-capped Continental Divide to the headwaters of the Arkansas north in Leadville and those rivers confluence and eventual passage into the Gulf of Mexico.

Nothing better than walking through a ditch.

And with a sense of the land and water beneath our feet, we were off! Into the culvert wide enough to drive cattle through and beneath Hwy. 50 (a perennial kids’ favorite) over to the verdant pastures where the Hutchinson Ranch keeps its herd. While there we met Abby, the sixth-generation of the Hutchinson family to ranch this land. Abby was quick to put eight eager kids to work with shovels, having them do what she only wished beavers would do in  opportune places: build dams. Over the course of the week, the kids, with remarkable enthusiasm and drive, focused on doing the hard work of flood irrigating by building channels for water to escape the ditch, strategically placing tarps to collect water, and removing impediments in the Briscoe Ditch.

Future engineers shaping the river.

Culvert to the south pastures.

Perhaps most impressive about all this, from one humble educator’s perspective, was the sheer joy the kids found in their engagement with water.  I watched as the reality of their own power to shape the landscape dawned on them and how they thought about the effects of their actions both down and upstream. By the end of the week, each camp participant could articulate how their efforts assisted the ranch’s hay crop, and how what happened on one part of the river affects  manmade and natural communities  below them; in this case, millions of people and hundreds of river miles from the South Arkansas River to the Gulf of Mexico. We can look forward to the day that they’re in charge.

Intstructors Ann Stevenson & Andrea Coen send 'em home good and dirty!

Registration is OPEN for Farmhands Summer Education Programs!

Register NOW to receive the Spring Chicken early-bird Rate for all of our Farmhands programs for Summer 2013!!

June 3 - August 15

 
Farmhands Youth Education Programs provide hands-on, experiential farm & ranch education opportunities for children of all ages, families and youth organizations!  

Farmhands programs have expanded this year both in numbers of programs and teaching locations!  We have offerings for the following age distinctions: 4 and Under, 5 and Under, 5-7 Years, 7-10 Years, 10 and Up.  Teaching locations include the historic Hutchinson Homestead, The Morgan Center, Moonstone Farm and The Salida School Gardens.

There are numerous summer programming opportunities to choose from, including:

• Little Sprouts programs for the youngest members of the family and their parents/grandparents

• Weekly garden programs

• 4-day camps at the historic Hutchinson Homestead

• 4-day garden, farm and ranch camps

• Saturday Drop-in programs at the Hutchinson Homestead

• Special Contract Group opportunities available

Advance Registration Required for all programs.  To see a complete list of program descriptions, dates, ages, cost, locations and additional registration information, click HERE.

For more information, contact andrea@guidestonecolorado.org or call (719)445-9855

 

Guidestone's 6th Annual Pumpkin Patch Festival

 

October 26 - 28, 2012

 

 

Friday 1pm to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm 

 

New Location! The Hutchinson Ranch, Salida

on Hwy 50 between Salida and Poncha Springs

 


Autumn in the Upper Arkansas Valley is a wonderful time to celebrate with seasonal festivities around the abundant harvest!  One great event for children and families will be Guidestone’s 6th Annual Pumpkin Patch Festival at the Hutchinson Ranch in Salida. The Pumpkin Patch Festival is a 3-day celebration open to the public, which offers a variety of activities and fun for the whole family. 

You can join in on a horse-drawn wagon ride pulled by one of Arkansas Valley Trail Rides’ team of horses out to the pumpkin patch where you can pick the perfect pumpkin for Halloween.  Other engaging activities will include pony rides, an apple-cider press, crafts for the children, face painting, farm games, storytelling, and playing chicken bingo! Enjoy a barbecue meal with hot-apple cider and homemade baked goods.   We are proud to be serving meals featuring foods that are locally-sourced, raised, grown, roasted and made!

New this year includes Friday evening in the Pumpkin Patch!  Stay for dinner, listen to the music of the Simpler Times Stringband, hang out around the bonfire, and stroll the twinkle-lit path to the pumpkin patch.  Experience the magic of the ranch after dark!

Also new this year is a Special Group Rate for school groups and youth organizations to visit the pumpkin patch on Friday morning before it opens to the public.  Reservations required!  For more info and to register, click HERE!

Admission is $5 in advance - click HERE to purchase tickets! and $7 at the door.  Children 2 and under are free!  The cost of admission and the proceeds from the barbeque and baked goods will support Farmhands, Guidestone's education program.

Guidestone is a Salida-based non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the local food economy through the preservation of agricultural resources and education. Guidestone’s Farmhands Education Program provides hands-on farm and ranch education opportunities for children, school groups and families.

Come Join In The Fun!
 


Special thanks to Arkansas Valley Trail Rides, LiveWell Chaffee County, Colorado Grown, Weathervane Farm, Cottonwood Creek Dairy and the Hutchinson Family for hosting and ongoing support!

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


Another Splendid Pumpkin Patch Festival

Guidestone’s Pumpkin Patch is an annual event, hosted over two weekends in October, which provides a festive celebration of the harvest season for children and families. Activities include crafts for kids, a hay bale maze, face painting, pony rides, and a horse drawn wagon ride out to a pumpkin patch where children can pick their own pumpkin to bring home. For three years the event has been held at Cottonwood Meadows in Buena Vista, where there are farm animals to visit and Weathervane Farm’s beautiful gardens to peruse. Or participants can take a walk through the golden leaves of the Cottonwood trees along Cottonwood Creek. Music and food round out the festive atmosphere.

This year, our 3rd annual, was the most successful one yet, with around 1000 people in attendance over the two weekends. People came from Chaffee, Lake, Fremont and Eagle Counties to enjoy this abundant time of year. All of the event’s proceeds go to support Guidestone’s Farmhands Education Program, which provides hands-on, experiential farm & nature-based education programs to groups, children and families. Community support is invaluable to the success of these programs, and Guidestone is grateful to everyone that attended this year for appreciating and celebrating agriculture, community and education. We would also like to thank the farmers, volunteers, and the folks at Cottonwood Meadows for their continued support of this festival.

By: Andrea Earley Coen

Life on a Farm!

By Judie Anders

Last week I was invited to attend a Farm Feast prepared by one of my favorite friends, Charlie, age 5. It was the completion of a three day Farm Camp experience for youngsters ages 5-7. We ate carrots, radishes, beets, cooked chard & kale all fresh picked from the garden, eggs from the chickens and homemade Ice Cream with wild harvested gooseberries on top made with creamy milk from the cows. It was delicious! What was even more enjoyable was seeing the shining faces of the children as they sang a song they made up about their farm experience about the cow Unbelievable who gave birth to a calf the night before including lots of laughter about the animals and how much fun it is to be on a farm.

Farming life is foreign to most of us even in this agricultural county, with fewer young people going into the farming and ranching lifestyle. I salute John Cogswell, owner of The Meadows, for hosting the programs and Weathervane Farm and Cottonwood Creek Dairy for allowing the plants and animals to be enthusiastically loved by these youngsters. The Farmhands Program is created and run by Guidestone, a non-profit educational organization that serves the Upper Arkansas River Valley of Colorado. Its goals are to Grow Farmers; To Connect people to the land and land to the people; and To Support and revitalize our local food economy and food culture. Andrea Earley Coen, a banjo playin “farmer” heads up each of the programs offered. Andrea has a degree in Geology and has taught middle school Science/Earth Science and designs the programs to meet Colorado State Science standards. She comes with 20 years of outdoor teaching experience in environmental education and an obvious love of the earth and the critters and kids (goats and human). If you're a teacher looking for a fun field trip for your students, you might want to contact Farmhands about setting up a program that can both take place on the farm and meet CO State Science Standards.

I was very inspired by this program which introduces children in a practical grounded way to where their food comes from, how it is grown and how delicious fresh vegetables can be. There’s still time this summer to get in on the action. Here’s the info on upcoming events:
Join Farmhands Education for one or many of these fun, hands-on programs based at The Meadows at Cottonwood Creek in Buena Vista. Designed for children ages 5-11, all programs are interactive, educational, and exciting opportunities to experience a working farm, meet the farm animals, assist with farm projects and explore the surrounding natural habitat. Local producers Weathervane Farm and Cottonwood Creek Dairy provide the hands-on “classroom.”

JUNIOR FARMERS
July 28 - ages 5-7, 9:30-11:30am; July 29 - ages 8-11, 10am-2pm
Don your overalls and come on out to the farm for a day of good-ole, down home farm work and fun. We will help work on some projects for Weathervane Farm, and the day will conclude with a special, tasty frozen treat thanks to the cows at Cottonwood Creek Dairy!

FARM CAMP
Aug. 3rd-5th - ages 5-7
If a one-day program seems too short, come join us for this unique and exceptionally fun 3-day program. Each day begins with farm chores and a snack. Then it really gets exciting! Days will be filled with teambuilding, nature exploration, aquatic ecology, farm projects, art, journaling, music and possibly even a hint of magic…. We will conclude the camp with a farm feast, harvested and prepared by the campers for their families. Offered throughout the summer. We hope to see you there!

FAMILY FARM DAY
Aug. 1st 9-11:30am
Want to come to camp, too? Here’s your chance! Spend a morning on the farm with the whole family. Meet and feed the animals, tour the farm, assist in a farm project and create a farm-inspired craft to take home. A farm-grown snack will be provided. You are invited to bring a picnic lunch and stay as long as you like!

Pre-registration is required for all programs. Please contact Andrea Earley Coen at (970)309-3175 or pflower[at]sopris.net to register or for more information.

Farmhands Announce Education Program for Spring/Summer 2009

As spring emerges, Farmhands education programs are getting underway! April 11th marks our first program, hosting the Chaffee County Mentors for a tour and fun on the farm. Youth In Action will also be participating in a farm-based program a few days later. There are many unique learning opportunities available to groups through Farmhands. To schedule a Farmhands program, please call Andrea Earley Coen at (970)309-3175.

Kid’s Summer Programs at Weathervane Farm
Farmhands is expanding its summer programming! Join Farmhands Education staff for one or many of these fun, hands-on programs based at The Meadows at Cottonwood Creek in Buena Vista. Designed for children ages 5-11, all programs are interactive, educational, and exciting opportunities to experience a working farm, meet the farm animals, assist with farm projects and explore the surrounding natural habitat. Local producers Weathervane Farm and Cottonwood Creek Dairy provide the hands-on “classroom.” Some of the class titles include:

- Farm & Wilderness Camp
- Chicken & the Egg
- Kids N’ Kids
- Little Sprouts
- Fun with Fleece
- Tracks & Signs – Who Lives Here?
- Diggin’ for Decomposers
- Farmer’s Helpers

Pre-registration is required for all programs. To register or for more information, please call Andrea Earley Coen at (970)309-3175.

** Farmhands, Guidestone's youth education program, gives children and school groups an opportunity to learn about their food source and what it takes to provide a safe, healthy food supply.

Farmhands' Pumpkin Patch Festival a Success!

Posted by: Allison A.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support our Farmhands education program by joining us at the Pumpkin Patch Festival. See you again next year!