Farms feed the world. They are, quite simply, fundamental to our existence. For some of the children at Harmony's House, farms are also the place that they live. We have been exploring farming for several weeks this fall in a variety of ways. This post will explain how the ideas about farming and food culminate in celebrating the harvest at Thanksgiving.
In September, we visited a small farm of one of our families to meet, care for, and understand where food like milk, meat, and eggs come from.
Some farms have only animals, only food, or both. In October, we "worked" in a Farmer's Market in our House Area.
The children would come to the market to buy produce that they could "take home" and make supper with.
When they ran out of food, they would go shopping again. Eventually the food at the store ran out. The children solved this problem by "calling the farmer" to make a delivery to the store.
Whoever was pretending to be the farmer would have to check if the hens were laying, if the pumpkins were ripe, and when they'd be able to make a delivery. We learned that farmers were important people because the stores would run out of food without them!
Now, in November we are preparing for Thanksgiving. Most people in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving by sharing a feast with family and/or friends, just as pilgrims did centuries ago to express gratitude for a plentiful harvest.
The children are demonstrating their knowledge of farming that they have developed during September and October by working with farm animals and barns. Farmers must take good care of the animals to have enough milk, butter, and eggs for all of the baking that happens during November and December.
They know that turkeys live on farms, and try to "catch a turkey" with these clever scissors in the Explore Table. Turkey farmers are very busy this time of year getting ready for Thanksgiving!
They create their own miniature farms, deliver hay and water to the animals, and use the tractors to work in the fields with the plants. It's time to harvest all the corn, apples, pumpkins, potatoes, and squash.
Finally, they use the grain, eggs, and butter from farms to run the Cookie Bakery.
Some friends work the mixers to make cookie dough. Some bake the cookie dough on sheets.
Some friends work to frost the cookies, and box them up for sale.
This year, for the children at Harmony's House, Thanksgiving will mean being thankful to farmers who bring the meat, produce, and grains to our table for a feast!
