Day 4 - Travel Day

After a wet nights sleep, with visits by the coyotes we packed up camp and ate a hearty breakfast and departed Saco Valley for Live Springs Farm in Carrollton, IL.  After a couple hours drive, we found out that Live Springs Farm permanently closed on April 6.  Unfortunately, they did not contact us and let us know.  So, we decided to push on to Champaign.  We arrived much earlier to Champaign than anticipated so we had some free time.  We ate a good dinner (without phones) at Flat Top Grill and spent some time bowling in the evening. 

Day 3 -Rain Rain Go Away!!

Spent the night in tents with several of the group had their first outdoor camping adventure. Woke up to a light rain, which was with us on and off all morning and early afternoon. The students did the morning chores. Some of them didn't go as expected, but that is okay. On day 3 they did more planting, cultivating, and we prepared our meals...

We processed our food. Steve helped us with the first one...

Afterwards, the students had to catch the chickens.

Once the chickens were caught we had to prepare them to be cooked...

After the chickens were plucked and cleaned we piled them on the grill.

All of the rabbits and chickens turned out great

Not much was left over...

Sadly, the second half of the day was lost to thunderstorms...so it turned into a movie afternoon.  There was so much rain that some of our tents got some water so we had to scramble and change up our sleeping arrangements. 

Day 2 - On to Saco Valley Farm

We departed our nice hotel  for the Bonne Terre Mine.  The mine is the largest lead mine in the country but has been unused since 1925.  We took a walking tour through the dry upper levels and learned about the history of the mine.  We then took a boat tour through the flooded lower levels of the mine where the clear water is deceiving as to its depth.  There is an estimated billion gallons of water in the underground lake.  We even had a chance to feed the lakes only inhabitant, a largemouth bass named Bonnie.

After leaving the mine, we made a short trip to Elephant Rocks State Park where we took a short hike and explored the unique geologic features and the remains of an old rock quarry.

After Elephant Rocks, we made our way to Saco Valley Farm, our home for the next two days.  We met our hosts, Steve and Melissa Deakins who introduced to their farm with a quick tour.  We sat down to a quick lunch and discussed our plans for the day.  We had an opportunity to watch Melissa catch and transfer a honeybee swarm from a nearby tree to a beehive constructed on the back of the property.  We then had the opportunity to meet the animals on the farm and milk the goats.  After a few more tasks (firewood, planting onions and tomatoes, setting up tents and tilling soil) we settled in to enjoy our dinner of homemade pizza and then settled around a roaring campfire finishing with s'mores. 

Day 1 - Let's Go Farming!

We left SBPS at about 6:30 Monday morning and headed south to Illinois State University to visit the farm.  The ISU farm has pigs, cows and sheep and we were able to visit each of the pens where they are kept and were able to ask questions of the people who work and care for them.

After lunch, we headed to St. Francois State Park in Missouri for our 2 hour hike full of nature.