Spring Creek Farm in Palmer, Alaska

See our calendar page for more information.

Go north of Palmer on the Glenn Highway past the Musk Ox farm. Take a left onto Farm Loop Rd. then a right onto Lossing Rd. Follow Lossing to the end of the pavement. Follow the signs. Scroll this page down for a map.

Seed Starting for Herb Gardens    Saturday, March  6

Free; suggested donation $5.00   Herbs need an early start. Our Master gardener will help get you started on the road to a successful Herb Garden.

Home Chicken Flock                       Saturday, March  20

Free; suggested donation $5.00

Seed Starting for Vegetable Gardens     Sat.    April  3

Free; suggested donation $5.00

Apple Tree Grafting Workshop                    Friday, April 16

Call 746-2714 to register. $20.00/person covers all materials.  

 Take home three apple trees, each a different variety.

Planning a Children's Garden           Saturday, April 17

 Free; suggested donation $5.00

Come and plan a garden for your child in your backyard, and help us to get ideas for our Children's Garden here at Spring Creek farm.

  Call 746-2714 for information and Registration

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Friday,  April 16

Louise's Farm School Open House

Come on out and see what we have to offer to home schooled children.

For more information about Louise's Farm School, click here.  Louise's Farm School

Saturday, June 12

Open House at the farm!!!

Featuring Valley Arts Alliance "Second Saturday" "Art on the Farm"

Come on out for a farm tour and a host of other fun events for kids of all ages.

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Louise's Farm School is now enrolling for the Spring

session. Sign up now!!!

        Spring Program:   March 15  through April 23, 2010   Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:30am-12:30pm   Only $270!!!

  *We are considered a vendor of the local home-school support programs: Twindly Bridge, IDEA or Correspondence Study School.
Participants may apply allotment money to cover the costs of our program or they may pay direct.

Louise's Farm School (LFS) is an interdisciplinary environmental and outdoor education program for home schooled children located at APU's Spring Creek Educational Farm in Palmer.   

The mission of Louise’s Farm School is to encourage each child’s discovery of the joy of learning through hands-on activities in nearby nature, in their home community and to nourish healthy lifestyles with local nutritious foods and outdoor physical activity.

Our major curricular themes include (1) Farming and Food, (2) Physical Health and Well-being, (3) Nature Studies and (4) Our Shared Alaska Culture.  Instructors are graduate students in the MS Outdoor Environmental Education program and AmeriCorps Education members. We uphold a ratio of 1 instructor to every 6 participants and we limit enrollment to 18 students.

There are two educational groups (both meet at the same time):

Chickadees, Kindergarten (hands-on, thematic environmental education)- Children in this group will discover the natural world through sensory awareness activities and outdoor recreation. With an emphasis on seasonal change, students build interdisciplinary concepts and skills based on what they do, see, hear and taste. 

This winter, Chickadees will meet a Denali guide as well as a local dog musher. The children will learn the basic skills of cross country skiing and snowshoeing.  Once confident with our winter-travel, we'll venture around the farm tracking wildlife and investigating snow and ice. Together, we'll play games and perform puppet shows that illustrate the wonders of winter.

Magpies, Levels 1, 2, 3 (project-based environmental education)- Children in this group will work collaboratively to complete and present projects, emphasizing relevant, local investigations. This approach involves the student in the decision-making and problem-solving processes and encourages both teamwork and individual strengths. Community ties are often strengthened with field trips and guest speakers. One project may last an entire session.

Magpies will focus their project on winter shelters! We will begin by constructing bird houses to take home. Then, each child will research an Alaska animal and describe where and how it seeks shelter during the harsh winter months.  Together, we'll build survival shelters--a debris hut and snow quinsy--and measure which one holds the most heat.   Magpies will report their findings during a community presentation.

Adventures await, sign up today!

To register, please email your contact information, child's name & age, and your home school organization (if applicable) to:

Sierra Doherty, sierra@alaskapacific.edu

Louise's Farm School Coordinator
MS Outdoor Environmental Education
Alaska Pacific University

(970)430-9189