Thursday, October 5, 2017

Students and faculty wandered through the woods contemplating the many uses of the land and enjoying signs of wildlife.

Today started with our morning meeting to discuss the plan for the day as well as some upcoming projects.  Students will be researching and building a lightweight easy to move rabbit tractor, deciding where to put a chicken house, working to clean and renovate one of the buildings on campus, and building compost bins with donated materials.

After the morning meeting, students were eager to get back to work on their dream farm project!  They continued to work diligently on their research and have come up with some awesome ideas!  After working on their farm projects students enjoyed lunch and had an opportunity to work on independent projects and to take a walk around campus.

Students exploring the wooded property.

We are located on 44 agriculturally zoned acres in Chester, VA.  There are several buildings, an open field, and LOTS of wooded areas which include a pond and a creek.  We followed the property line back through the woods and towards the creek.  Students observed signs of wildlife such as trees stripped of their bark by deer, honey combs, spider webs, animal tracks, and various other signs that wildlife had recently explored nearby.  The creek bed, which due to the lack of rain, was completely dry.  This allowed us to follow the creek bed across the property to a clearing which will soon be home to the Guardian’s greenhouses.  Students discussed ideas for a goat pen and a chicken coop.  They also were able to get a good look at the soil and briefly discussed ways to learn more about the soil and improve its quality.

Students ended the day with independent study time. One student used her time to work on her 4-H All-Star application, another spent some time studying fishing techniques and others worked on their farm plans. We discussed the Friday field trip, made some plans and headed home.