Go Beyond The Classroom!
Hello Teachers! Parker Learning Gardens is a nonprofit educational farm that hosts field trips for students K-12 all year long. Our staff can accommodate groups of up to 40 people with accompanying school-provided chaperones.
Our unique 33-acre organic farm is home to many thought-provoking natural spaces including: 12 Demonstration Gardens, a 3-acre Bamboo Forest, a Fruit Orchard with 500 trees, a Linden Tree Grove, and a 4-acre wild “old-growth” Hazelnut Orchard. Our Microbe Island demonstration area includes a large composting and vermicomposting setup, as well as a huge biochar kiln! We rotate pigs and chickens to “work” the farm, in addition to hosting a number of sheep (100+) every year in the winter season to maintain the grass and bamboo. We practice organic regenerative stewardship, with processes that provide insight into: seed germination, soil science, biodiversity, composting, plant identification, pollination, growing nutritious food, biochar benefits, water conservation, the soil food web, gardening with pigs and chickens, cover cropping and so much more.
“Tell me and I’ll forget, teach me and I’ll remember, involve me and I’ll learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
Depending on the season, we can offer a variety of guided customizable field trips. Below is a list of options to provide an idea of how we have put together field trips for other visiting classroom groups. Each of these options can be modified to provide appropriate content and excitement to any particular age or experience level. Let us know what you would like us to focus in on, and we will do our best to compliment your existing curriculum.
Connect with us () for any questions and to set up a field trip!
General Educational Tour of Farm & Gardens (1.5 hours – $10/student)
1. Includes a bamboo forest adventure with discussions about the grass family & carbon sequestration, a walk through the demonstration gardens, an overlook of our fruit and hazelnut orchards, and a visit to see our hardest working farmhands – the pigs and chickens. Sometimes we can squeeze in a mini lesson such as smelling and tasting different herbs in the mint family, a rainbow nutrition activity, a short worm/vermicompost lesson, or something similar. It depends how fast everyone walks and if there are any delays (we find it is good to have backup activities to allow more flexibility on timing).
2. This option includes quite a bit of walking, with many retreats from the elements along the way.
3. This option includes a complimentary bamboo Hawaiian trumpet for each student to take home as a memento.
In Depth Lesson on One of the Following (2 hours – $15/student)
1. Biochar/Carbon Sequestration/Soil Regeneration/Composting/Vermicomposting
2. Bamboo Forest & Native Bees w/ Native Bee House Crafting
3. Pigs in the Garden – Utilizing pigs (animals) to regenerate soil and as organic pest control, ethical pig husbandry, rotational grazing, and nutrition needs (they’re omnivores like us). This may include meeting the chickens as well!
Customized to Compliment your Present Area of Study
We can work with you to customize a field trip suited to what students are learning at that time. Let’s talk more about this to determine how we can accommodate. ()
We are looking forward to working with you & your students!
