PS 8 Kindergarteners Visit the Old Queens Farmstead
Text by Amy Shire
Photographs by Ulalume Zavla
On a gloriously beautiful fall day in mid-October, 110-odd PS 8 kindergarteners trouped by bus to a most bucolic setting nestled in the midst of our urban metropolis: the Queens County Farm Museum. This is the oldest -- and now, only -- working farm within the borders of New York City, dating back to 1697. Its dual mission is to maintain itself as a working farm, and to educate the city's schoolchildren about agriculture and farm life. For the kids this particular morning, it offered the opportunity to see farm animals close up, learn about apple pressing, and in general, to leave urban life behind for a day.
While each class of kindergarteners took turns climbing on the back of a flatbed truck for a hayride through the woods pulled by a tractor, other classes were taken on a tour of the livestock - which included turkeys, sheep, cows, chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, and even a peacock - and learned some fun facts along the way:
- "Why do you think there's netting above the chicken enclosure?"
- "Because otherwise the chickens will fly away?"
- "Actually, chickens can't fly much. But they can jump - as high as the fencing, which is nearly as tall as the roof of the chicken coop..."
Later, each of the children got the chance to help press apples for cider, using a wooden cider press. As one child dropped an apple into the press, another turned the wheel until the apple was turned to pulp, or pomace. (This is the first step in making cider -- later the pulp will be pressed further to squeeze out more juice.) They learned that when cut apples turn brown, it isn't a bad thing, it's simply "oxidation" - and admired the symmetrical star pattern formed when an apple is cut in half.
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Once back in their classrooms, each child was sent home with a memento of the day's visit - a small bottle of cider to savor.
Posted on: October 24, 2008
