Apple Farm Field Trip

I love field trips. Every time we go somewhere the kids learn so much and so do I. We meet incredible people and have a good time. We have never been to this particular Apple orchard but it was a really great place. On Wednesday we went with our home school group to the Apple Orchard in Penrose. It wasn't that far away. The farmer and his wife own a 5 acre parcel upon which they grow apples, pumpkins, raspberries, grapes, honey and a few other things. They converted their garage into a shop to sell their wares out of and it is the cutest place.

Our groups were divided in half and our half went with the farmer. He talked a little bit about the original founder of Penrose, Spencer Penrose. We rode around in a hayride wagon attached to his tractor. We saw the little apple trees. There are some that are 30+ yrs old and some others that they have planted that are only 5-10 yrs old. Apple trees only produce for so long. The frost unfortunately had a huge negative effect on the apple production leaving only a handful of apples to grow in the orchard. We saw the way that the farm is irrigated. Its really quite simple. There is a dam that runs water into pipes that run under all of penrose and the people hook up their pipes to the system and flood their land. It works although some have a much better irrigation system in place. Our next stop was the pumpkin patch where we learned about the female and male plant, the kids know the difference now and we got to see the pumpkins that are still green. We rode through the rest of the farm and saw his raspberry bushes and grape vines and his honey bee hives (made me sooo nervous since I still don't carry an EpiPen).

We then met the farmers wife who showed us the proper way to pick an apple and how the apple sorter works. All the kids got to line up and work the apple sorter and then they got to keep 3 apples to take with them. there is a spot to dump all the apples and a conveyor belt moves them along. There are two lines and the bad apples get put in one and the good ones go through to the end where they are checked again by the workers on that end. The kids really liked the apple sorter. After this we moved on to the apple press machine. Her again is a spot to dump all the apples and then they get ground up and dumped into this wooden bucket. the wooden bucket then gets moved down the machine under the press. All the kids took a turn at pressing the apples. The juice came out of the wooden bucket and flowed down the machine over the end into whatever receptacle you choose, they had a bowl with a sieve to catch any bigger pieces that made it through.

We all got treated to a doughnut and fresh apple cider. The mom's took a moment to enjoy the serenity and peek at the cute shop. The couple sells fruit and veges, jam, syrup, soap and honey. It is tasteful , cute and heartwarming little place. The couple are so warm, sweet ,very helpful and willing to answer questions. This is their retirement he from the forest service and her from teaching. What they sell pays for the farm and a few other things and they seem to enjoy every minute of it. It was such a great trip.

A little history about the railroad and some awesome pictures.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/f?hawp:0:./temp/~ammem_nT4g:
http://www.florenceandcripplecreek.com/history.html

Some Facts about Spencer and Julie Penrose
http://www.gilpincountynews.com/20070628/spencer_penrose.htm
http://www.cssd11.k12.co.us/BRISTOL/Bristol_Wall/1900/front_1900_penrose.htm

The kids on the back of the hayride wagon

More of the kids just hanging out
The farmer explaining the male and female flower of the pumpkin plant.
The kids listen intently to the farmer
More of the kids on the back of the hayride wagon

The farmer's wife shows us how to pick an apple and why it's done that way.The kids look through a box of apples
The apple sorter
The kids wait to sort apples

Conner inspects an apple for goodness
Quality assurance
The shop

A frozen honeycomb

Colin presses the apples

Kids putting apples into the apple press machine

Austin puts in some apples
Conner takes a turn pressing apples
Colin eating an apple and working the apple press
This is what happens when I ask my boys to smile for a picture. Someone has to make a goofy face.
The kids sit around and chat and so do the mom's


Vanessa

Tuesday Review

I am joining Angela for Tuesday Review.

Ever have problems with the tedious task of getting your kids to learn their multiplication facts? Well I found a product that works and works fast. Times tales is fantastic. We got this last yr and in one afternoon my kids knew their 6-9 facts. It is ingenious. There are the numbers and they make cute stories and pictures to go with them. There are flashcards that help the kids remember their facts and even a test of sorts. I will say that the kids may need a refresher occasionally but that is okay because every cent spent on this product is worth it. Instead of hours and hours of just repeating facts we spent one afternoon. Really just one and they had it. I honestly wasn't sure about it at first but it worked. It uses mnemonics's to help kids learn their facts.

I see now that they added the 3's & 4's to their product and it is a bit more expensive. I purchased it for about $15.00, if I remember correctly. It is now $30.00 ($29.99 but really who wouldn't say $30.00??). You also get the division portion of the program which helps you memorize same facts in division form. We didn't do this but I still have the program and I think we need to review anyway so I may throw that in there. At any rate anyone teaching their kids their multiplication facts will have their life made much easier and fun by this product.

Vanessa

Yum&my Math

M&M good
This math is great, mom!

Graphing& probability
addition & subtraction
Multiplication & Division too
What is the probability of getting brown?
What is the probability of getting green?
How many more blue are there than yellow?
What is the mean, mode and mediun?

Last week we went to the library and I happened upon M&M math. Hmmm I thought to myself I wonder if this is any good and the kids will like it. I can say for certain that the kids were looking forward to their math lesson. They really couldn't wait. At first I thought that this was a bit above their level but the more I got into it the more I realized all the math it encompassed. There are a range of math lessons in this tiny book. Basic addition,subtraction, multiplication and division are there. But there is also graphing and probability. If you look past all that you can even add some other neat things in there that will make math lessons of all kinds. The best part is having your kids excited about math and not being able to wait till you get to the lesson.

We somehow ended up at the library again and I got the hershey fractions as well. I liked it too but not nearly as well as the m&m one. We still enjoyed it and it was a fun way to look at fractions and cover some good concepts like improper fractions, mixed numbers, lowest terms/reducing, what fractions are the same as others when you do reduce them, what whole numbers or one looks like as a fraction among other great math concepts.

Our candy bar vs theirs

Time to "open" to your lesson

One whole, 1/1, or 1

Breaking it apart. There are 12 pieces so one whole can be 12/12

Kenai helps with the lesson? He smelled the chocolate and wanted some so he came to sit and see if he can snatch any chocolate. (chocolate is poisonous to your dog, DO NOT give them any)

Breaking down some fractions

One last fraction and it's time to eat

Vanessa

Nature hike

Our hs group set up this field trip for a nature hike in Pueblo Park at the Mountain Park Enviormental Center. I love anything to do with the environment and we love hiking so this was a definite yes. The center has plenty of Ranger led hikes, summer camps and a Earth studies program.
We met for a picnic at the park before our 2 hour Ranger led hike. Ranger Dave came out and talked to the parents to give us all an idea of what we were going to do and we got on this cute bus that had the most terrific bumper stickers in it. We took a short ride to the trail head and Ranger Dave gathered all the kids and introduced himself. He talked of the history of the park and the Indians that once lived there. Ranger Dave played a wooden flute and it was very neat all the kids listened intently and not one, not even the little toddlers, made a peep. We learned of the vegetation such as the ponderosa pine and the ponderosa beetle that had destroyed a decent section of the park.

Ranger Dave share animal track molds, animal skulls and animal fur with us and the kids loved them all. You would think after having touched those types of things at countless Park center's they would eventually tire of this but apparently not. He had the kids do an quiet exercise where they all spread out, were quiet as a mouse and listened to nature. They put a small x in the center of the page to represent themselves and if they heard a grasshopper in front of them they wrote or drew a grasshopper in front of the x. The amazing thing was the kids actually did this and were quiet. I suppose Ranger Dave telling them that often when he does this exercise with a class an animal will appear because they are being quiet. The boys talked about this exercise quite a bit and we decided we wanted to try it again sometime when we could sit as long as we wanted. Ranger Dave was so nice and answered all of the kids and grown up questions. We saw a fire outlook post on top of one of the mountains, it didn't seem far and Ranger Dave said he would put together another hike with older kids(8+) to the post if we were interested. Um if we were interested??? ya think?? yes we were and so were a couple of the other parents. I put myself in charge of setting this up since Gina set up this one. As always I must share pictures. My husband says that I take so many pictures we can make a flip book "it's like being there". That's a whole nother post for now I know some of you will appreciate my over the top picture taking. Would it be better if I told you I didn't even share them all?

Horseshoe Lodge and ranger Dave.

The trail we took. I love signage and take pictures of them all the time. It helps when I am scrap booking as I can remember where that was and the names of things. Plus it makes a great title for any scrapbook page.

Ranger Dave talks a little about the park

Ranger Dave and his Flute. Conner wants one.


Austin checks out a bobcat footprint track mold
Colin is intrigued by this Deer skull
Conner found this coyote skull very interesting
The whole gang, aren't the kids cute??

Stopping along the trail in the shade.
Conner shows off the Bear track mold
Witches broom grows on White fur tree

Colin listens during the quiet exercise

Conner took his spot under this tree to listen to nature

The Deer we saw on the way out

We saw this on the way in and I really wanted a photo because i thought it was so neat. So I stopped on the way out. I think the other mom's thought I might be having car trouble or kid trouble but no I wanted to get the picture. Is it considered a totem pole? This one has the house numbers on it. Isn't it pretty. Great work whoever did it.

Since we were about 30 min away from Bishop's Castle we decided to go there as well. We did go a few yrs ago but the kids couldn't even remember it so it was time to go back. Halfway there the boys wanted to turn around. It is sort of the type of place you intend to go to not just see on the side of the road and decide to stop. You go on mountain roads that go back and forth with nothing but nature around you and perhaps the odd farm here and there. You do sort of start to feel like "are we there yet?". When we went last time I remember it taking forever too although it didn't really about 40 min. The other thing that seemed to have changed is the signs. There used to be all these signs leading up to the castle warning of all sorts of strange things. I remember warnings of nails in the road put there by the gov't because the gov't didn't want anyone to go to Bishop's Castle. HUh??? umm I think the gov't has a few other things to deal with beside one guy out in the middle of nowhere. But to each his own.

As crazy as I think the guy is I do think that what he has done is amazing. For one person alone to have built this amazing Castle is just mind numbing. There are turrets and iron work. A dragon head on the castle a bridge at the top of it and he is currently working on a moat to surround his castle. The imagination that went into this and being able to make it real just makes me wonder about the man himself. I think it would be quite interesting to talk to him and the kids sure wanted to. I'm sure I wouldn't be the first person to want to talk to him , nor the last. Anyway here are some pictures that just show you how magical this place it and what great vision Bishop has.

A bridge in progress.

A miniature model of Bishop Castle. He has pretty much completed this portion.

The trees are hiding much of the castle

One man built this by himself. Truly amazing.

The Dragon head. the boys said it was a snake.

Austin in all his silliness.

The inside of the second floor

Close up of the stained glass

A better view of the Castle

The moat in progress

One of the last remaining signs

Vanessa