Visiting an Organic Farm

      Our first field trip this year was to Terry's Berries, a local organic farm that runs a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and a farm store. We rode in a tractor, visited goats, fed chickens, picked apples, dug potatoes, and oh yeah - stomped in mud puddles! The real reason for the trip, however, was to learn about the plants they grow, and we saw many: blueberries, lettuces, apple trees, dinosaur kale, broccoli, raspberries, beans, and many more.

Here are some highlights:

 Tasty little organic "Liberty" apples. I'm sure most of these did not make it home - most of the kids ate them immediately! We learned that they coat them with clay to keep insects away instead of using chemicals, which would pollute the soil in the fields and run-off into the nearby Puyallup River.

 The students were fascinated to see how the potatoes were attached to the root of the plant.

 We swung a wide arc around these bee boxes, but saw a lot of busy bees at work here, and were reminded that without them, we would not have been able to pick the apples that were the result of pollinated blossoms.

 This is "Dinosaur" kale. I wonder why they named it that?

 Choosing a pumpkin is serious business!

 The best part about visiting a farm? The mud puddles!

Thank you, Terry's Berries!