Where in the world was Unquowa this summer?  In Costa Rica on the adventure of a life time!!  This past July eleven Unquowa students traveled with Ecodestination on a twelve day Science Adventure Tour.  Ecodestination has been running student tours for 14 years throughout CR. We were fortunate enough to have the most amazing tour guide, Mariano Cruz.  He was with us from the minute we landed in CR until we said our tearful goodbyes 12 days later.

Our Group landed in rainy San Jose on the afternoon of July 5^th.  All of us were a bit anxious and definitely excited. After a restful night to catch up on some sleep and recharge after a day of travel, we headed to the Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean Coast. (more…)

The week of July 20 at Unquowa was a magical one. Twentytwo children entered the school Monday morning, and on Friday afternoon, twenty two improvisers left. The week was full - with three guest instructors, as well as a co-director from the U.K., students learned about the core aspects of Improvisational Comedy, which culminated in a fantastic show demonstrating what they learned.

Our last day of farm camp & here is the most requested recipe.

Lavender Shortbread

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter & sugar. Beat until smooth. Stir salt into flour and mix well. Add flour and salt mixture to first mixture. Mix in Lavender flowers.

Press dough evenly into a pan.

Bake in 375-degree oven 25 minutes. Cut into bite size cookies.

Our youngest campers learned that wheat is the main ingredient used to make great breads, dough, and a lot of the yummy desserts they love to eat. They got to experience first hand how wheat is ground into flour using a mortar and pestle. After they were done, Chef Peter gave each camper some fresh dough prepared just that morning to make their own pizzas! The children had an awesome time kneading the dough, forming it into the pizza shape of their choice, and then of course eating. Way to go Sweet Peas on another successful cooking class!

With a light breeze blowing and the sun shining brightly overhead, campers had a great time harvesting garlic! They were amazed as they pulled up plant after plant to expose the garlic bulbs which grow underground. As the piles of garlic grew, some becoming almost as tall as our smallest campers, the children became more and more amazed. A few brave campers finding stray cloves on the ground, dusted them off and gave them a taste test! Talk of using the garlic during cooking class could also be heard as the children enjoyed the harvest! Great job campers! Job well done!

Tuesday the Sweet Peas made pickles at Farm Camp. We cut cucumbers, measured spices & herbs. Tasted, smelled & had many different thoughts on the smell of vinegar. We will eat some pickles tomorrow.

Here is the recipe we followed.

Unquowa Pickles

• 1 1/2  cups  rice wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons  sugar
• 1 teaspoon  peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon  mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon  fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon  cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons  kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons  dill weed
• 4 whole cucumbers

Combine vinegar, sugar, peppercorns, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, salt & dill.

Pour combined ingredients over sliced cucumber & refrigerate 24 hours up to 4 days.

The Sweet Pea program is a division of Farm camp for our youngest campers. These campers are children entering grades prek4 and Kindergarten. Their days have been jam packed with exciting activities. From working in garden beds on our campus to starting plants from seeds, our little ones are doing their fair share of farming. They have also been working closely with Chef Peter and Mrs. Shannon learning about fruits and vegetables and cooking up some tasty treats! Cooking class has been busy. Some things the campers have made are many different kinds of fruit smoothies, pickles, and mashed potatoes. They have also used blueberries and strawberries to create patterns on skewers for a yummy and educational treat! After all this hard work students get plenty of down time for creative play and fun outdoors!

As a celebration of all their hard work on the farm, campers have a morning of fun and games every Friday. From sack races, egg and spoon races, a balloon toss,and a blindfolded radish race, fun is definitely had by all.  It’s a wonderful way to end the week with friends new and old!

Summer Farm Camp is in full swing and an incredible time is being had by all! Our mornings, spent at Sport Hill Farm in Easton, have been busy, productive, and fun. The campers have been planting seeds both in cell trays and directly into raised beds, transplanting young plants from the greenhouse to the field, and collecting eggs from the chicken coop. They also harvested garlic scapes, lettuce, and radishes. All of these items were brought back to school and utilized during cooking class. Garlic pesto, beautiful salads and amazing breads prepared by the campers and Chef Peter where enjoyed at a family style lunch on Friday. Campers also went on an amazing field expereince to New Pond Farm in Redding where they exlored various types of habitats and the animals that live in them.