Teacher/Educator Newsletter: Autumn 2007

Greetings to all teachers and educators! I’m sure that this newsletter finds you all busily preparing for the beginning of another new school year. Things are busy around the World Hunger Relief Farm too as we are preparing for our fall crops and looking forward to having many of you out to the the farm for a visit. Once a quarter we’ll be keeping you up to date on special events happening at the farm which your classes might want to participate in, as well as passing along resources that we think might be helpful in your classrooms. Feel free to pass this newsletter link along to others that might be interested – all of us here at the World Hunger Relief Farm are looking forward to partnering with you once again this year in educating our children! Here are a few things of interest already:

Fall Farm Tours – Reserve Your Date Now!

It’s hard to believe but we are already taking reservations for farm tours this fall! As usual we are able to design a unique hands on experience for your class that connects directly to your curriculum and TEKS requirements – give us a call to set things up!


Fall Farm Day:

It still seems way too hot to be thinking about autumn but its just around the corner despite what the thermometer says and that means we’re already planning for our annual Fall Farm Day. This years date is October 27th and as usual it will be packed with good food, live music, guest speakers, educational activities, farm tours and lots, lots more. We’ll keep you posted as the day draws near but mark your calendars now!

Going on around the farm . . . .

The bizarrely wet days of July are long behind us and we’ve finally moved into the inevitable summer heat that we’re all used to. That hasn’t stopped us from getting our new vegetable garden beds prepped and putting our first transplants and seeds in the ground for our fall crops. Our dairy goats and laying hens are doing as well as they can in the heat and while it always means our milk and egg production drops a bit we’re keeping them watered and cool. For the second year in a row we'll be offering pastured turkeys for sale at Thanksgiving and Christmas - the little poults arrived last week and are already growing up fast. After a hugely successful summer honey harvest we’re contemplating the possibility of a fall harvest as well, although the bees aren't as excited about the possibility as we are! Our education garden is finally getting some attention after the rush and busyness of summer harvest and we’re steadily getting things ready for welcoming out our first school groups. So, all that to say, that things around the farm are busy as usual!

New Curriculum on the Way!:

We’re really excited to announce that one of our long time goals is finally coming to fruition as a recently awarded grant has made it possible for us to hire some local educators to write curriculum for our local education programs. We’ll be telling you lots more about the curriculum as it gets nearer to completion so keep your eyes open for this exciting resource!


Heifer International for Educators:

I recently had the opportunity to attend Heifer International’s Teacher Training weekend. It was a great time of learning and dialog with other educators who are excited about educating children, youth and adults. If you aren't familiar with Heifer and their mission you will definitely want to check out the wealth of education resources available on their website.

Blessings on the beginning of the school year!

Matt Hess
Education Director