MSU Extension Tollgate Farm and Education Center

 MSU TOLLGATE FARM S.T.E.A.M. Break Camp Blog 

Monday - Friday, March 28-April 1, 2022 

Monday, March 28, 2022: Day 1

Happy First Day of S.T.E.A.M. Break Camp! Hard to believe that it’s been over 3 years since we last hosted this camp! We are happy to have it back this year and to have it filled with new and experienced Tollgate Campers! We truly have the best campers at MSU Tollgate Farm! 

We kicked off camp with some fun name games and then the flag ceremony. We followed the flag ceremony with some fun skits as we went over our C.A.R.E.S. Contract of camp behavior expectations! No surprise to us, our Green and Yellow pepper groups were already experts! 

Today we are exploring the question "How do living things grow?" so we met Farmer Darby in the green house to learn about winter/early spring sowing. To some of our surprise the green house we the perfect place to be during this 20ºF day. Before Farmer Darby's lesson and activity about seeds, germination, and planting we took a tour around the green house giving the onions, lettuce, and other veggies a plant high five on their awesome germination success! Once all the plants had received 24+ high-fives from all the campers it was time to get to work.. Planting Swiss Chard! 

Farmer Darby had us fill up the trays with new potting soil, taught us the official way to fill, how to use your fingers to make a seed hole, and why we put more than one seed in each hole. Once all the trays were filled it was time to plant some swiss chard of our own to enjoy at home. Don't forget to water it and once the days and nights are a bit warmer and the swiss chard is more established its time to plant it and leave it outside until it grows big and tall and is ready to harvest and enjoy! 

After our visit with Farmer Darby in the Green house we learned more about seeds during a Seed Dissection. We took a bean seed and dissected it to see all the parts that make it into a seed. We saw the seed coat, the first leaves, the first root, and more!  After dissecting the campers were able to make a bean in a bag to bring home and sprout in a window. 

Now that we are seed experts it is time for the activity we like to call adapt a seed. Seeds have adapted in many different ways to successfully spread their seeds? Can you remember some of the ways seeds have adapted to spread? We used this question to adapt a seed of our own and present how it spreads its seeds. Do they float? Burst? Stick? Taste great? Fly? Or something else? Campers had a blast getting creative in their designs. 

For morning Garden kitchen we had fun preparing a fruit salsa and talking about all the tasty seeds we eat everyday. 

Our last morning activity was our first visit to the animals. Today the Green Peppers visited the Goats and Sheep while the Yellow peppers visited the chickens and rabbits. 

After lunch there was a lot more fun to be had! This was day one of our week long STEAM project: Nest building! Campers needed to brainstorm on their nest design because later in the week it would be time to create. 

Then it was time to continue our seed adventures with a seed scavenger hunt around the farm. Seeds are everywhere, all you need to do is look. We found flying seeds, munched on seeds, seeds that float, seeds that sink, even seeds that made us think. Campers had a blast using their eyes on this purpose filled nature walk and left with their hands filled with seeds they were excited to share with their friends. 

And the final activity of the day was garden kitchen were we took the seeds in salsa a step further with a corn and bean salsa. It was hard to tell which seedy salsa the campers preferred more. Which one did you enjoy the most?

Day one has come to and end however, have no fear this is just the start to an incredible week. 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022: Day 2

Welcome back to 2022 S.T.E.A.M. Break Camp! Today we have an exciting day exploring "What is soil?" We started the day with a crowd favorite: Animal Chores. Today the Green Peppers had Chickens and Rabbits and the Yellow Peppers had Goats, Sheep, and Ducks. 

After animal chores we headed to the green house to make some seed bombs. Seed bombs are a fun activity that can be done to spread grass seed in patchy areas and to spread local wild flower seed in field areas for pollinators. We took water, powder red clay, compost, and grass seed, mixed it all up, rolled it to a ball, and saved it on a try to dry to be thrown later in the day.

After getting our hands dirty in the green house we headed to Garden Kitchen for a dirt layer hummus. We made a delicious hummus and piled it in layers of crackers, cucumber, everything bagel seasoning and again and again. Campers liked getting creative with their layers while learning that soil is composed of different layers. 

After Garden Kitchen we headed over to work on our nest some more and get into day one of construction. Time was limited today, however have no fear we still have 3 more days to work on our final product. 

After our STEAM project we headed over to the the upper barn to learn about Vermicomposting and composting. Campers love getting their hands dirty while learning about the benefits of worms! 

Don't worry.. we washed our hands after this activity! Because now it is time for lunch.

After lunch we were able to take a wagon ride out to the forest where we got to explore the fascinating world of our Maple/Beech Forest and learn about map making. We talked about how we use maps to find our way and we can make maps using natural objects found in nature. Camper had fun burying treasure somewhere in their map and different camp groups needed to guess where on the farm the "treasure" was buried. 

After some forest exploration we took a wagon ride to the hay field to throw seed bombs. We wanted to help Farmer Roy establish healthy happy hay in his field for a harvest later this summer! 

After all this adventure it was time to enjoy our worm filled snack! Not real worms though. Campers enjoyed making their own dirt layers using Oreos, yogurt, and fruit juice gummy worms. We got dirty as we indulged in this protein packed treat! 

Wednesday, March 30, 2022: Day 3 

Happy Day Three STEAM Break Campers! "How are baby animals similar to or different from their parents?" With a question like this its only fitting that we start our day in the barn for animal chores today. This morning the Green peppers checked on the Goats and ducks while the yellow peppers checked on the chickens and rabbits. The yellow peppers also had the privilege to bottle feed the 2022 kid goats born a few weeks. Don't worry, the green peppers will get to tomorrow! 

After the animal chores we headed over to garden time to indulge in some farm fresh hard boiled eggs and fruit. We learned about how eggs come in various colors depending on the breed and you can tell what color the eggs will be by looking closely at the hens ear!! 

After snack we headed out to the sugar shack where we met farmer Roy who showed off the evaporator in the sugar shack where they were conducting the last spa boil of the season. This was perfect, unplanned timing for camp-- and we feel so lucky that we were able to share this magical experience with all the campers. We learned about how many gallons of sap it takes to make maple syrup, the temperature water boils vs syrup, Reverse Osmosis and so much more! 

After this fun outing we headed back to Garden Kitchen where we prepared a non human snack. It was time to make a snack for the two ponies Friday and Sesame which consisted of celery, carrots, apples, oats, and molasses. The campers were excited about the opportunity to get a little closer to the ponies, some were even brave enough to feed the ponies. 

After lunch we rushed to the Activity Center where the campers met Mr. Scott our Livestock Instructor to learn about Embryology and do an egg dissection. We compared and contracted Farm eggs vs store eggs and duck eggs vs chicken eggs. Campers were excited to learn more about egg hatching while asking lots of interesting questions. Still no egg hatching yet, however, some look close. 

After this fun outing we continued on Day 3 of our STEAM Project: Nest building project. At this point the nests are getting closer to done. 

After getting our hands dirty during nest building we grabbed one of the yearling goats for a goat walk around the Sukura garden to the pond. This was the goats first harnessed walk of the year so she was a little nervous about the experience, however the campers enjoyed getting her out of the barn. 

Then it was time for our afternoon garden kitchen. This afternoon was our cheese tasting. We purchased a cow milk cheese (cheddar), a goats milk cheese (soft goat), and a Sheep milk cheese (hard cheese and feta) for all the campers to do a taste testing comparison. Campers were able to guess where the milk came from and rate it as good/bad/ok. There was a close rating between the cows milk cheese and the sheep feta amongst the campers. 

Then time to go after another amazing day!  Hard to believe we are already over half way through the week! 

Thursday, March 31, 2022: Day 4 

Happy Thursday! During this dreary morning the yellow peppers decided it was probably wise to do a simplified flag ceremony rather than getting all cold and wet at the start of the day and rather than cancelling it all together. The yellow peppers did a fabulous job leading us in the 4-H pledge and pledge of allegiance and getting us excited for the day.

The big question of the day was “Where does water go? Where does it come from?” Very appropriate for all the rain we have been having. We kicked off this question with a hike around the pond. Where we observed erosion and where the water goes when it goes down the drainage pipes. This transitioned to asking big questions about what else gets dragged with the water that might be harmful to the pond ecosystems.

After our adventures around the pond we headed to animal chores where the Green peppers worked with the chickens and the rabbits while the yellow peppers worked with the goats, sheep and ducks. In addition to animal chores, the Green peppers get to work with Farmer Norb to give the baby goats milk this afternoon!

After animal chores we really worked up an appetite and are ready for Garden Kitchen. This morning for our Garden Kitchen snack we made a blue smoothie that ended up being more purple than blue thanks to the addition of strawberries. Campers reviews determined this as one of the best smoothies. It was quite the compliment!  We believe that it’s the frozen bananas that made it so good! We paired this smoothie with some visitation to the chicks. We had 3 more hatch overnight! Campers loved to observe the hatching behavior and could see it truly is an exhausting process.

Now that our bellies are full we headed over to the green house to visit with Farmer Darby. She taught about the many forms of irrigation. Our farm utilizes a few different forms including: Sprinklers, hoses, watering cans, rain, and today we focused on drip tape. We talked about why we use drip tape, where you could use drip tape, the problems with drip tape, and so much more. Campers were fascinated by the drip tape and we might have gotten a little wet in the process. At the end the green pepper group asked the big question “why do we use water to water our plants and not another liquid?” We decided this would be a fun experiment to do at home testing other liquids vs water and its effect on plant growth.

After some fun in the green house it was time to go to lunch and enjoy some relaxation and some hot cocoa.

After lunch the green peppers rushed to the barn to meet Farmer Norb to give the kid goats some milk. We learned the method, why we bottle feed them, and then had some quality goat hanging out time. Because.. kid goats.. how could we not?!?

Then it was time to work on our nests. It was the last day of construction before the nests get tested tomorrow with their eggs. A lot of campers got creative in their testing dropping their nests with mud “eggs” to see how the “eggs” survived and then would make adjustments accordingly. We made a big getting creative in the barn so we also needed to leave time to clean up the barn. Thank you to the Yellow peppers for finishing up the cleaning so they Green peppers could do their next activity. We are very excited for the egg drop tomorrow-- the nests are looking great!

Then we headed to afternoon Garden Kitchen where we had Asian Noodles on the menu. The campers were very excited about the ramen noodles but unsure about all the veggies going into this one. From shelling edamame to chopping onions and peppers-- We had a nearly perfect rainbow with all the colors. The campers with much hesitation look a bite and luckily many weary campers loved it! Tangy, sweet, salty, flavorful noodles.

After Garden Kitchen we headed out to the children’s garden to play some games like Wrens and Jays and explore it for signs of Spring.

Well.. another day has come and gone. Looking forward to seeing everyone of Friyayyyy!

Friday, April 1, 2022: Day 5

Its Friday! The green peppers kicked off our final day of S.T.E.A.M. Break camp with our final Flag ceremony of the week. The campers worked so well as a team, carefully unfolding the flag, posting the flag, raising the flag, and announcing the pledges. Campers got excited for the final day filled with egg drops and afternoons in the forest!

First stop of the morning is to the animal barn to say our final goodbyes. We visited the goats, sheep, chickens, and rabbits. It was bittersweet, because we have had such a great week meeting and hanging out with all the animals, it feels too soon to say our goodbyes. Especially to the kid goats who will be more than double in size in the next couple of weeks.

After our long goodbyes we headed to garden kitchen for a simple yet delicious snack of popcorn and Tollgate Maple Syrup. We talked about popcorn and why it pops and how sap turns into syrup. After we enjoyed our popcorn we started to prep our veggies for our chicken-less chicken noodle soup we were going to cook in the afternoon.

After Garden kitchen we had a moment to explore and play in the children’s garden on last time and put our finishing touches on our nests because its almost dropping time!

Once all the nests had their finishing touches on it was time for the nest drop. The green peppers were first and had huge successes. The point was to design a nest that tries to keep the eggs as safe as possible during a possible drop. We discussed how it was ok if the egg breaks because that is normal and will happen in real life. We just wanted to test an experiment and wee what shapes, materials, sizes work best. We had many eggs break but we also had many eggs survive. Great job campers!

After our nest drop challenge it was time to head out to the forest for the afternoon. The green peppers headed out first to start the fire. We learned about fire safety, fire designs, and uses of fires. Today we were using a fire to keep warm and to heat our food. We used steel and flint to start the fire, however, we moved on to matches when we needed to grow the fire bigger. The green peppers did an excellent job being safe around the fire and keeping it fueled so that we could get our pot hot!

Once the coals and pot were hot it was time to start cooking. The green peppers got the soup started while the yellow peppers explored the forest. Then when the yellow peppers returned they finished up the cooking of the soup while the green peppers explored. Before we knew it we had a HUGE pot of vegetable and bean noodle soup. Could we finish all of it… What do you think? I had doubts.

….

I was wrong, these campers definitely worked up an appetite and LOVED it! Before I could grab a second bowl for myself we had a line up of campers ready for their 2^nd, 3^rd bowl and before we could blink there was not even a spoonful left. Made for a really easy clean up. While we took our final bites, we took this moment to enjoy the forest and reflect about the fabulous week we had. Every camper took the opportunity to reflect about their “rose” for the week.

And that’s a wrap. We trekked back to the barn, gathered our belongings and said our goodbyes. Thank you all for making my first STEAM Break camp such a memorable experience. I truly enjoyed hanging out with each one of you and look forward to remembering these memories for a long, long time.

Remember to never stop exploring and asking questions. You all are amazing and are going to do great things!

---- Hugs