Preschoolers
Our preschool program is designed for 3- and 4-year-olds. These visits include a tour of the farm to see what is growing, a tasting of food from the field, a craft that reflects our mini lesson (depending upon the month, our mini lessons present concepts like insects, roots, seeds, pollination, etc.) and an opportunity to share prepared vegetables in a salad or garden “taco”. We work best with no more than 20 in a group, and our preschool session typically lasts a little over an hour. The cost is $5 per learner.
Kinder-6 th Graders
Our core program is for elementary aged children, kinder through 6 th grade. These visits include a tour of the farm, a tasting of food from the field, an art project framed in some aspect of the farm or the season. We learn about growing food through “gardening” activities of either planting or harvesting. We learn how to use the planting guide for Maricopa County. Together, we prepare and enjoy a delicious snack using farm food. We work best with up to 60 same age/grade students but can accommodate grade combinations as well. Our time together is about 2 ½ hours, and we invite school groups to bring their lunches and stay to eat in the garden after our activities. The cost is $5 per learner.
Middle and High Schoolers
Our program for older kids is framed in a farm to table theme. These visits are based a curriculum focusing on the concepts specific to farm to table process. We tour the farm and discuss some of the realities of sustaining a restaurant or business with fresh, local food. Students meet with one of the local restaurant owners for a question-and-answer session, that may include a walk through a restaurant and a view into the individual operations. For a creative response to their learning, students create their “brand” by thinking up logos, slogans, and images that they incorporate into “menus”, cookbooks, biographies, and/or recipe cards. Students have fun imagining marketing themselves as professionals in the food industry. We prepare something delicious made from farm food and we dine together “orchard dinner style”! We work best with students in culinary classes or clubs, but we also accommodate students with no background in culinary arts, and can accommodate up to 40 students at a time. Our time together is about 3 hours, and we encourage groups to stay after learning to explore the different restaurants at Agritopia, and if finances and time allows, to stay for lunch! The cost is $5 per learner.
Seasonal camps
Home Schoolers
At this time, we offer only our core program: elementary aged children, kinder through 6th grade. These visits include a tour of the farm, a tasting of food from the field, an art project framed in some aspect of the farm or the season. We learn about growing food through “gardening” activities of either planting or harvesting. We learn how to use the planting guide for Maricopa County. Together, we prepare and enjoy a delicious snack using farm food.
For multi-aged/grade groups our minimum number is 15 learners and our maximum number is 40 learners.
Please note that our program is for 5-year-olds to 11-year-olds, (kinder-6 th grade) students younger than 4 or older than 11 are not included in our learning activities.
Our time together is about 2 ½ hours, and we invite families to bring their lunches and stay to eat in the garden after our activities. The cost is $5 per learner.
***You MUST reach out to Miss Hickory (misshickory@agritopiafarm.com) to book a Home School Group Session. Please DO NOT reserve a date through our booking calendar.
Victory Garden
specific to 5th grade, 8th grade, Seniors, or FFA groups
These lessons are aligned with social study curriculum that includes US history. Generally, these lessons cover two days. For the introduction to Victory Gardens, Miss Hickory visits the classroom on the school campus. This hour lesson sets the stage for the subsequent lesson out at Agritopia farm. In class, students learn about “propaganda” posters and how the United States government promoted family and community gardens in an effort to feed the world during the two world wars. The following day at the farm, student learning is reinforced by hands on activities Americans used to grow their own food, while farmers grew food to be sent to Europe.
Activities include planting and harvesting, preparing and preserving vegetables, seed saving, and conservation of resources. For the classroom visit we address one class at a time. And for the farm visit we can accommodate up to 60 learners at a time. At the farm our time together is about 2 ½ hours and we invite groups to bring their lunches and stay to eat in the garden after our activities. There is no charge for the classroom visit, and the farm visit is $5 per learner.
The Victory Garden lesson is a passion project for us, we share this important part of US history in such a way that students feel pride and empowerment to be an American. People who can be; generous, united in task, practical in calling, and accountable to self through conservation and preservation of food!