>On Fri, 1 Nov 1996, I wrote:
BTW, we also have a PYO strawberry farm. This past spring we conducted our
first "Blossom Tour" for a local 3rd grade class. One of our "discovery"
stations focused on beekeeping. I was very happily
surprised and encouraged by the kids' (and parents') interest and
questions. We plan to offer our "K-3 Program" to more schools in the
spring of '97.
>>On Sat, 2 Nov 1996, Rick Grossman from Oregon wrote:
>>I am interested in your blossom tour. can you give me the details? How long, did it just take place at your place, what did you cover, etc. etc.(more questions than I can think to ask). We have beehives, blueberry plants just now old enough to be commercially harvested for the first year come this summer, raspberry plants, etc. My wife loves to do show and tell of all the things outside, and your ideas would be a big help in making it a real program instead of just happenstance to the kids of friends.
Sorry itıs taken so long to get back to you and the List. Iıve been having
troubles with my Performa 6300CD locking up and crashing. Hopefully I will be
getting a new logic board by the end of November.
We live northwest (about 40 miles) of the ³Twin Cites² of St. Paul and
Minneapolis, Minnesota. The tour took place on May 21st, which in a normal
year would yielded a virtual sea of strawberry blossoms. But, due to the late,
wet, and chilly spring, there wherenıt as many blossoms to see as in a normal
year. The flowers finally did catch up later, although berry production was
way down.
Our ³Blossom Tour², this last year, was divided up into 4 ³discovery stations²
which took about an hour and a half all total. Luckily we had perfect weather
for the occasion and the local newspaper took alot of nice pictures of the
kids (and PR for our berry operation!). Also, one of the neigbors shot some
video for us so that we can evaluate our talks for next year. The first
station the 150 kids visited was my oldest sonıs (Nate, age 16) 4H Sheep
project. Nate talked about the meat and wool breeds we have and about lambing.
We then asked the kids to help us feed. They where given handsful of hay and
grain to feed thru the fence. Then we brought out several spring lambs for the
kids to get up close and personal with. The second station was #2 sonıs
(Trent, age 14) 4H projects of rabbits and chickens. Again Trent said his
thing and the kids got to pet the rabbits and handle the week old chicks. The
third station was my beekeeping hobby. I stacked up bales of straw for a back
drop and a wall to hold up two commercially produced posters. One poster was
The Beekeeperıs Year and the second poster was The Life Cycle of the Honeybee
Family. I used them as a guide and/or notes if you will, to talk about what I
do. Between those two posters sat a complete hive (no bees, 3 deeps for brood
and stores, 3 mediums for honey). Again using these props made it very easy to
talk about what I do with our bees. At the end I answered questions and let
them handle the hive pieces and other equipment. The last station the kids
experienced was the strawberry field (2 acres), irrigation equipment, and
machinery. Again I tried to explain what we do and how we do it with pick your
own strawberries. We let the kids climb on the tractors and took 2 volunteers
for a ride on the transpanting machine and showıd the group how we put plants
in the ground. As the kids climbed back on the school buses to leave, we gave
each person (parents and teachers also) a small plastic bag with some
strawberry flavered candy and a coupon (The Hassettıs Berry Farm- Berry Buck).
The coupon reduced the price of their strawberries if they returned the end of
June or the 1st week of July (our normal picking season).
Next spring we will be changing some things and adding some things. Since we
will be having more schools visiting we cannot rely on the weather to
cooperate. In case of bad weather we will use our farm shop and barns. Hmmm,
come to think of it I wonder if I can make them all presentable by May!? We
will divide up the kids into smaller groups and rotate the groups between
stations. In their bag of treats will be some type of honey. My wife (Nancy)
and a friend of hers, want to talk and demonstate about spinning wool. The
boys still want to do their 4H thing. I have moved my one hive of bees into
one of our buildings, which will become ³The Bee and Honey Barn². I plan to
implement some ideas of see thru hives and flight tunnels so that visitors can
get close up and personal. Also Iıll have one or more, full working hives in a
screened in area so I can put on a live demo. In addition, I can show visitors
how ³we² collect, store, use, and sell honey. I have alot of other ideas
(thanks to BEE-List members) Iıd like to implement but I think I better focus
on getting those darn buildings presentable first!
Hope this answered some of your questions.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR OPERATION!
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