Family Day on Saturday

Saturday, March 20th
2pm - 3pm
Meet at the Green String Farm Store
$2 per-person fee requested, not required

This Saturday, two of our lovely new interns will be leading some fun activities for kids and parents. The theme for the day is edible flowers, and participants will get to pick and eat some of early spring's prettiest and yummiest blossoms. We'll also take some time to meet the farm animals.

The beautiful sunshine we're enjoying right now is supposed to stick around through the weekend, so it's the perfect time to play on the farm!

Family days are geared for elementary-school-aged kids, but we can set up alternate activities for younger children too. Make sure to wear clothes and shoes that can get a little dirty!

Questions/RSVP: jenny@greenstringfarm.com

The Return of Family Days, Farm Tours, and more!

I'm very pleased to say that, after a break for the crazily busy summer season, Green String Farm is once again offering community events. We have a really fantastic bunch of interns who run all of these events. If you want to learn more about the farm and maybe get your hands dirty, this is for you!

Farm Tours

This Saturday, and the first Saturday of each month, our own farm interns will lead a 90-minute walking tour of Green String. Each tour will focus on a particular theme, so repeat visitors can see and learn something new each time they come. Examples of tour themes:

• orchards
• water use
• vegetable varieties
• integrating animals
• sustainability

Tours leave from the farm store at noon, so make sure you get there on time. Wear good walking shoes, bring water, and be ready for a bit of a hike! We suggest a donation of $5 per person. RSVP: jenny@greenstringfarm.com

Family Day

The third Saturday of each month, we'll have fun activities set up for children and their parents. Arts & crafts projects and games will focus on basic concepts of natural food and farming, like compost, animals, and water. Come to the farm store at 2 to meet us for an hour of fun, and stay for some farm fresh snacks after. Suggested donation $2 per person. RSVP: jenny@greenstringfarm.com

Community Workday

Every Thursday from 9am to noon, join us for a morning of light labor. Volunteers help us harvest, control weeds, and work closely with interns. There's lots of time for talking, so it's a perfect opportunity for home gardeners who want to ask questions about how we farm. It's also great for people who, like us, find dirt very therapeutic. We'll send you home with a free bag of produce as thanks. There's no need to RSVP, just meet us at the farm store at 9am.

Up and Coming This Week (and beyond)

I hope everyone had a great Earth Day and got a chance to enjoy the Petaluma Butter & Eggs Days festivities!

Workday

With the longer days and off-and-on hot weather, the farm is bursting at the seams with life, and there's a ton of work to do! We interns have been spending our mornings clearing up our rhubarb, strawberry, and garlic patches, and we're at least trying to harvest our artichokes as fast as they're cropping up. It's truly an exciting time to work on the farm, and we'd love it if you'd join us on Thursday mornings from 9am to around noon. Coming to a workday is a great way to get face-time with Green String staff and interns (and who doesn't want that?), enjoy a few hours of rewarding work, and even take home a free bag of veggies for your trouble. There's no need to sign up, just meet us at the farm store around 9.

Family Day

We skipped Family Day last week so that we could go downtown and watch the parade. This weekend it's all back to normal though, and for Family Day we'll be talking about seeds. How does each little seed contain so much life, so much magic? What's the best way to plant them? And what're they made of, anyways? We'll look at these questions and more on Saturday at 10:30am. Make sure you reserve your spot by signing up in the farm store or sending an email to jennycade@gmail.com with the number of participants (that is, kids + adults). As always, we'll bring lunch at around noon.

Farm Fair

Mark Saturday, May 16 on your calendars, because it's going to be a fun day. We're throwing a big party, and you're all invited! There's going to be food, music, and a ton of workshops, plus an opportunity to live "A Day in the Life of a Green String Farmer", put on by a few of our interns. We're still banging out the details, so stay tuned for more information!

Events, events, events

Because having Saturdays off is just not our style.

Family Day

We were going to talk about parts of a plant for our Family Day last week, but instead we spent the morning checking out baby chicks and a two-day old orphaned goat that the interns have adopted. (More on that little cutie to come!) So this Saturday, we will cover parts of a plant, answering questions such as, "How do roots work?", "What do flowers do?", and, most importantly, "What parts of plants can I eat?" We'll also do a related arts and crafts activity, and maybe, just maybe, the aforementioned baby goat will make an appearance so we can all get our cuteness fixes in.

As always, the fun starts at 10:30, lunch is around noon, and we ask that you please sign up at the farm store or by emailing jennycade@gmail.com. Oh, and a reminder: there will be no Family Day on Saturday, April 25 so we can all go get our parade on at the Butter and Eggs Day extravaganza!

Farm Tour

After lunch on Saturday, we're going to offer a farm tour! I don't think Green String Farm has ever had a real tour open to the community, so this is pretty exciting (well, it is for me, anyways). From 1pm to, say, about 3pm or so, we'll walk through part of the 140 acres that the interns and bajillions of plants call home. Our focus will be on the ways that our farm mimics natural systems and works with nature, particularly in regards to animals, compost, and cover crops. We'll also have plenty of time to answer questions, whether it's about our farm or home gardening.

We're running out of room for sign up sheets in the store, so if you'd like to join us for the tour please email me. Please feel free to come at noon and join the Family Day folks for lunch, but let us know so we can plan for it. To cover the cost of staffing for the tour, we'll accept donations ($5 a person would be plenty), but no one will be turned away if they can't swing it.

Work Day

Yup, we're still doing work days! If you come at 9am on Thursdays, we'll put you to work for a few hours and even send you home with some goodies. Activities are different every week, and we try to get involved in as many different aspects of the farm as we can. It's a great opportunity to learn, and we have a lot of fun while we work. There's no need to sign up, we'll meet you at the farm store. Be sure to wear comfortable work clothes.

Parts of a Plant at Family Day this weekend

Our second family day, last Saturday, was super fun! We had a smaller turnout than the first event, but that didn't keep us from learning about farm animals and the multiple roles they play on our farm.

This Saturday we'll be at it again, and we hope you'll join us. We'll learn about what the different parts of plants are, what they do, and a bit about how they work. I'm betting the rain will let up by then, but just in case it doesn't we'll set up a cozy space in one of our barns for games, activities, and arts-and-crafts.

As always, we'll bring fresh bread and sandwich fixings for anyone who'd like to join us for a very farmy lunch at noon.

Please RSVP by emailing jennycade@gmail.com or signing up in the farm store.

I look forward to seeing some of your shining faces on Saturday morning!

P.S. We will not be hosting Family Day on April 25—we'll all be down at the Butter and Eggs Day Parade!

Family Day

On Saturday we held our first ever Family Day at the farm, and it was quite a success! We had about a dozen kids, plus parents and a couple grandparents, and everyone got to play a microbe game, learn about how soil fulfills many of plants' needs, and investigate different soil samples. We also took a brief walking tour of the farm and had a fresh lunch of veggies from the stand and warm-out-of-the-oven bread. To put it briefly: it was a blast.

To all of the families who joined us, thanks for coming, and I hope you had as much fun as I did. To those who couldn't make it this week, I hope you can join us this weekend, for our second ever Family Day! Yup, we're making this a regular Saturday morning thing, and everyone's welcome.

Next time we'll learn about the role animals play at Green String. We get more than eggs from our chickens, and our sheep, goats, and bees are multitaskers too! As always, please wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty, and a water bottle wouldn't be a bad idea either. We'll bring food for anyone who cares to join us for lunch after the activities.

To help us prepare, we ask that you please RSVP with the number of participants (kids and adults) you plan to bring. Email jennycade@gmail.com or sign up at the farm store.

Farm Events

Beginning this week, Green String is putting on regular educational programs open to the public.

Workdays

Thursdays, 9am to noon
Meet at the Green String Farm Store

If you’re interested in natural process farming and want to learn more, we invite you to join us on Thursday mornings for community workdays. Green String Farm interns will lead activities and discuss principles of natural farming in a casual setting. Activities may include: pruning, soil preparation, harvesting, competition control, animal care, compost, and much more.

Please come prepared to work! We’ll provide tools, but make sure you have comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty and good, sturdy work shoes. Mudboots and gloves are recommended.

Family Day

Saturday, March 28
Activities: 10:30am to noon
Lunch: noon to 1pm
Meet at the Green String Farm Store

Learn about natural farming from the ground up!

Interns at Green String Farm are going to give brief, fun, hands-on lessons about how we farm. We invite you to join us for our very first Family Day on March 28, when we’ll get our hands dirty and talk about the most important part of our farm -- soil! If you’d like to join us for lunch afterwards we’ll bring homemade bread and we can dig into some fresh veggies from the farm stand.

Please wear clothes and shoes that can get dirty -- mudboots would be great! The activities will be geared towards 6- to 11 year-olds, but we can provide alternate activities for younger children. Parents, though we’re excited to teach your kids, we’re not prepared to supervise them entirely, so you’ll be asked to stay with us throughout the activities (and you might learn something too).

Suggested donation for lunch: $2 per person

Please RSVP to jennycade@gmail.com or sign up at the farm store.