Public Programs

ImageMeeting the "other" kids on the farm

From cheese making to composting to animal adventures, our on-farm public programs offer inspiring ideas, hands-on skills, and fun experiences on the farm. Adults, kids, and families are welcome for tours, workshops, and programs throughout the year.

 

Find out about public programs in Chicago.

 

 

Click on the title of each event below to view upcoming dates or download a PDF version of our calendar.

 

Click here for complete registration information.

 

To learn more about the programs listed below, contact Deb Crockett, Program Director, at 815.389.8455 or workshops@learngrowconnect.org .

 

Note: Because this is a working farm and residence, we cannot accommodate unscheduled visitors.

 

Explore Food & Farming

Learn more about our Farmer Training Initiative.

 

Walking Tour of Angelic Organics
Join us for a tour and introduction to Angelic Organics, the Biodynamic vegetable farm in northern Illinois featured in the award-winning documentary film The Real Dirt on Farmer John. We will explore what makes this a biodynamic and community supported agriculture (CSA) farm. Learn basic strategies for growing food without chemical inputs and see the seasonal work underway at the farm. Wear sturdy shoes (conditions may be muddy!) and clothes appropriate for the weather.

 

Introduction to Biodynamic Agriculture
In this one-day workshop we’ll introduce the comprehensive ecological methods behind the world-wide biodynamic farming movement. An introduction to soils, plants, animals, planetary calendars and the process of viewing your farm as a living organism will be discussed. Hands-on activities will further enhance the experience. Participants will be able to purchase biodynamic amendments and begin integrating these practices in their own garden spaces and farms. Co-hosted with Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.

 

Biodynamic Compost Preparations

Building upon the lecture “Earth and Cosmos as One Organism,” Manfredd Klett will lead a hands-on workshop where we’ll develop an understanding of the biodynamic compost preparations as sense organs. Manfredd will introduce both imaginative pictures for each of the six compost preparations and also talk about the natural scientific properties at work in the compost pile. We’ll be introduced to each preparation and place them into a compost pile.

 

Farm Dreams: Assessing Risks & Resources to Start a Small Farm or Market Garden
Have you ever dreamed of starting your own farm? In this interactive workshop, we'll learn about types of sustainable farming careers in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, take part in a series of self-assessments, and be better prepared to decide whether to pursue a farming business is the right choice for you. We'll hear about regional training opportunities through the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), university extension, small business development centers, and others. Includes a presentation of farming enterprises, a tour of a growing site, and an opportunity to ask questions about the development of successful local farms.

 

Towards Saving the Honeybee: A Holistic Beekeeping Workshop
Gunther Hauk is a holistic beekeeper with over 30 years of experience. Turning the tide of the honeybee’s spiraling death rate is a task dear to his heart. You’ll learn beekeeping methods that run contrary to conventional practices but have been proven to increase the honeybee’s health and vitality. This special workshop is presented in honor of Lora Krogman's life and passions.

 

Understanding Organic Foods
Confused by the differences between organic foods, CSA farms, local foods, and seasonal diets? Hoping to find local options for healthier, better informed eating? In this workshop, we cover strategies for finding foods that fit your budget, health concerns and values about the environment and local economy. Dress for a brief tour of our farm.

 

Women’s Overnight
Come enjoy the farm while camping with other women! We’ll complete a work project, do chores together, enjoy a leisurely walk in the woods, and share an evening around the campfire. For meals, we’ll pick, prepare, and share delicious food from the farm. Bring your tent and friends!

 

Fun for Families

 

All About Insects
Explore the farm with an insect net to learn about the many fascinating roles—both helpful and harmful—that our 6-legged friends and their relatives play on the farm. We’ll construct our own insect and play other games. Parents must accompany children.

 

Animal Day for Families
Bring your kids to the farm for a day of hands-on experiences with the animals. Help the crew milk the goats, feed the horses, and gather eggs from the ducks and chickens. See how you can produce soil from kitchen scraps with worm boxes. Tour the farm and explore how animals fit into the rest of the farm. Make goat’s milk ice cream and enjoy a potluck meal under the trees near our new timber frame barn. Ages 6–12.

 

Baby Plants and Animals
Spring is a wonderful time to visit a Biodynamic farm, where we grow vegetables and raise animals without synthetic chemicals. Bring Mom to the Learning Center to celebrate Mother’s Day a bit early. Come tour our spring vegetables, meet baby animals (and their moms!), and pot up a present to bring home. Children must be accompanied by adult.

 

Cornbread from the Ground Up
Starting with ears of dried corn, we’ll cook up a feast of tasty cornbread. Family members of all ages are welcome to take turns as we shuck, shell, winnow and grind the corn. After gathering eggs and other goodies from the farm, we’ll bake our bread in an outdoor earthen oven. Learn about the long history of corn, and have a recipe and tips about seeds to bring home. Parents register with children.

 

Eggs-cellent Adventures
In this program all about eggs, come meet the chickens and ducks, find out how baby birds develop, and collect colorful eggs from our rare-breed chickens. Using natural dyes, everyone will color an egg to take home. Children must be accompanied by adult.

 

Explore the Farm through Art
Families will journey together through the farm in search of our connection to soils, plants, and animals, then spend the afternoon drawing outdoors one special relationship that you saw at the farm, using charcoal or pastels. Bring your imagination to create your own art, and some food to share at a potluck lunch.

Family Farm Overnight
Come pitch a tent in the savanna and enjoy family time, outdoor activities, a farm tour, interacting with the animals, and optional work projects. Evening campfire with a veggie-wiener roast and fresh breakfast included. Bring camping gear.

 

Father's Day Overnight
Hey kids! Surprise dad with a camping trip at the farm for Father’s Day! You bring a tent, farming clothes, and your father, and we’ll have a fun time planned, with games, farm work, a campfire with a drumming circle, and exploring the land. Delicious farm dinner and breakfast provided!

 

Home-milked Ice Cream
Can you guess what three ingredients in ice cream come from the farm? Together, we’ll learn about where food really comes from... then make up a batch of truly home-grown ice cream! Parents must accompany children.

 

Kids with Cob
Come cooperate with others to construct a mini eco-village while learning natural building techniques. Use your hands to build model homes using a mixture of clay, sand and straw, called “cob”, then use your imagination to create stories about people in the community. Parents must accompany children.

 

Kidwatch
Come to the farm to learn about goats, play with the babies already born, and — if the timing is right — witness a live birth. You’ll join us to feed the animals, learn about goat pregnancy and birth, and share a potluck lunch. The visit comes with naming rights for any goats born under your watch. Children must be accompanied by adult.

 

Mother’s Day with Mother Earth
Spring is a wonderful time to visit our Biodynamic farm, where we grow vegetables and raise animals without synthetic chemicals. Bring Mom to the Learning Center to celebrate Mother’s Day a bit early. Come tour our spring vegetables, meet baby animals (and their moms!), and pot up a present to bring home. Children must be accompanied by adult. Ages 4-10.

 

Worms in the Basement!
Learn all about the wriggly creatures that contribute to our soil. Make a small indoor worm bin to take home with you to begin composting veggie and fruit scraps right in your house. Parents must accompany children.

 

Day Camps on the Farm!

Download our flyer for 2008 Summer Day Camps

 

Explore the Farm through Art
Calling all creative kids for a four-day children's outdoor art class! Come spend time with your favorite farm animals and vegetables, find your secret spot on the farm, and learn to use a different art medium each day! We'll mix individual and group art projects together with animal chores and experiences on the farm. Bring a sack lunch and snacks daily.

 

Fair Play
Spend the week preparing for our own mini-fair! Show a chicken and a goat, pick beautiful veggies, create natural crafts, make your own treats and more! We’ll have special judges and ribbons on the final day. Bring a sack lunch and snacks daily.

 

Kids with Kids Mini-Day Camp
Our 3-day spring break mini-camp will introduce (people) kids to the goats, right in the middle of birthing season. Come explore the farm, work and play with the animals, and help care for baby goats and their mothers.

 

Getting Wild on the Farm
Come discover creatures and plants in our creek, woods, prairie and savanna. Learn how wild spaces are integral to the life of the farm, play games and make crafts with what you find in the woods. Bring a sack lunch and snacks daily.

 

Playing with Your Food
During this week, we’ll explore the whole farm from the creek to the barnyard, playing games along the way. On the farm, ice cream starts in the hayfields, the sprinkler is truly awesome, and your friends have four legs as well as two. Bring a sack lunch and snacks daily.

 

From the Fields to the Kitchen

 

Cheese Making Workshop
This hands-on workshop in our farm setting will introduce the process of cheese making from start to finish (from milking the goats to tasting fresh goat’s cheese). We'll learn how to make ricotta, chevre, mozzarella, feta, and more!

 

Cooking with Fresh Vegetables
All you wanted to know about preparing fresh vegetables and were afraid to ask! Come to Angelic Organics farm for enjoyable and delicious ideas on preparing your veggies. We will use an assortment of seasonal vegetables straight from the fields, and prepare a variety of dishes for sampling.

 

Healthy Holiday Eating
Join us in the farm kitchen for fresh ideas on how to create a fall feast focused on vegetables. Whether you are a vegetarian, or simply want to expand your repertoire for cooking with the vegetables of late fall, we'll have plenty of healthy, nutritious dishes to try, including roasted root vegetables, sweet potatoes with maple syrup, and more. Bring your favorite holiday recipes for ideas on healthy adaptations.

 

Live Culture in the Kitchen
Did you know that the healthy bacteria in yogurt can be used to help preserve and enhance vegetables? Come learn how to make yogurt, sauerkraut, kim chi, kombucha, kvass, and other fermented and cultured foods with Anne-Marie Fryer, Waldorf teacher, biodynamic farmer, author, and nutritional counselor. Bring wide-mouth jars to take home your own samples.

 

Soap Making Workshop
Learn to make a wonderful and gentle soap using goat’s milk. Our lovely goats provide the milk, and our veteran soap-maker Neddy Astudillo explains the process and facilitates the hands-on soapmaking. Everyone will make several bars of soap to bring home.

 

Unrefined Sweets: Taking the Sugar Out of Dessert
Dessert doesn’t have to be filled with refined sugar to be delicious! In this workshop we’ll create treats sweetened with fruit, maple syrup, and honey. We’ll learn how to use alternative sweeteners, plus tips on how to convert recipes.

 

Wine Making Workshop
After introducing the history and science of winemaking, we’ll jump right into making a small batch of wine. Each participant will use wild fruits gathered from the farm to make at least a gallon of wine starter (or “must”) for fermenting at home. The workshop fee includes all of the basic materials to get started (except bottles to house your treasure). Since most commercial wines contain sulfites (and often other chemicals), your wine will be more natural, with a higher percentage of fruit juice.

 

Learn to Garden Organically

 

All About Insects for Gardeners
Confused by the critters in your garden? Come to the farm to learn how to identify the creatures in your garden, determine if they are helpful or harmful, then strategize on earth-friendly methods for controlling pests.

 

Build a Raised Garden Bed
Together we'll build, fill, and plant a raised garden bed with wooden sides. Learn about selecting materials, building the soil, and more.

 

The "Ins" and "Outs" of Composting
Learn what makes a successful compost pile, and decide which methods will work best for your household. Overview various types of compost bins, build a pile together, and tour our farm-scale compost operation. Meet the worms in our vermiculture system, and find out how to implement indoor composting at home. Dress to work outside!

 

Planning Your Organic Vegetable Garden
Lift the winter blues in this workshop on designing an organically managed home vegetable garden. We’ll talk about various methods for building soil, plus planning for space needs and crop rotation. Especially for beginning gardeners, or those ready to convert to non-chemical techniques. Bring your dreams for this year's garden, and leave with a garden map and planting calendar. We'll share a potluck lunch.

 

Starting Your Organic Vegetable Garden
Celebrate spring by learning techniques for organic soil preparation and planting. We’ll learn about soil texture and soil life, plus how our Biodynamic farm tends and feeds the earth. We’ll cover the basics of double digging, prepare a garden bed, and learn about seeding and transplanting through hands-on projects. Dress to work in the garden, and bring lunch.

 

Sustainable Building Skills
Download our flyer for 2008 Sustainable Building workshops

 

Earth Oven Workshop
Come join us for some mud work and learn to build a cob earthen oven. Earth ovens are a great introduction for people of all ages to natural building, using age-old techniques and simple materials such as clay, sand, and straw. The emphasis will be on hands-on learning as we learn to mix cob and earthen plaster, and provide you with the skills to build an oven in your own backyard.

 

Solar Hot Water System Installation
Participants will build a solar collector for the Learning Center’s gathering space using copper tubing and flashing, connected to an elevated hot water tank. This system--in which water circulates by gravity through the copper grid and directly heats the water tank--can be used during frost-free dates.

 

Sustainable Building Design
Sustainable architect Roald Gundersen will present an overview of sustainable building design options, show examples of his recent design work, and interpret the features of the Learning Center buildings (including whole tree architecture, passive solar heating, strawbale walls, and two styles of composting toilets). The afternoon will provide an opportunity for students to create charrettes of their own dream buildings, then receive feedback and guidance on finding local resources from Roald.

 

Whole Tree Architecture
Learn state-of-the art skills in sustainable construction that you can apply to your home building projects using trimmings from your backyard trees. We'll receive expert instruction in whole tree design, framing, and finishing. Architect Roald Gundersen, who specializes in solar, straw bale and whole tree buildings, will show us how to build using un-milled trees harvested from forest thinning for columns and beams (for more on Roald's work, go to www.roaldgundersen.com). As with unprocessed food that retains more health value, wood used in its natural state retains 50% more of its strength than milled lumber. In this three day learning-by-doing workshop, you will help construct a 16-foot round wood shelter that will cover our new cob oven. You will learn about preparing round wood (including forestry, tree selection and peeling bark), assemble the structure, and complete the roof. We'll also observe previously constructed round wood and strawbale structures on the farm and see how well they are holding up after several winters. The finished product is functional, beautiful, and inspiring!

 

Understanding Our Place in Nature

 

Developing New Eyes for the Natural World
Join us to develop a more satisfying relationship with the natural world through gaining skills that lead to a heightened awareness of plants and animals. In the spirit of integrative thinker and scientist Goethe, we'll experience Angelic Organics farm through systematic observations and reflections.

 

Discovering Rudolph Steiner: An Evening with Michael Holdrege

As a pioneer of holistic approaches to many realms of life, Rudolf Steiner’s starting point was always the process of self-transformation in the individual. Come explore his insights into self-development as a means of transformative action in the world.

 

Earth and Cosmos as One Organism

One of the key contributions of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy is the picture of the earth and cosmos as a single living organism. Internationally known biodynamic lecturer and farmer Manfredd Klett will help us understand and engage in a living picture of the farm, garden, and earth.

 

Eco-Spiritualities Workshop
How do different faith values or spiritualities understand and respond to the challenges posed by human impact in the rest of the natural world? Join us for a conversation about different faith traditions and their understanding of God, nature and humanity. Led by Presbyterian pastor Neddy Astudillo, eco-theologian and Doctor of Ministry student on Ecological Ministries at Drew Seminary.

 

Eurythmy
Eurythmy is a movement art with practical applications in education. Translated from the Greek, eurythmy means beautiful or harmonious rhythm. Day and night, seed time and harvest, summer and winter are all rhythms of nature which are expressed through movement. Join Chicago Waldorf School instructor, Irene Arrendondo, for a morning of movement and conversation.

 

Healing the Earth and Healing Ourselves: An Evening with Gunther Hauk

The problems we encounter as a society stem from our present-day understanding of the world, the cosmos and the human being. Gunther Hauk will give a talk from an anthroposophical perspective on how—through spiritualizing our understanding of nature—we can be more relevant in the the work of healing the Earth and healing ourselves.

 

Local Lifestyle, Global Impact
Are you concerned about how your everyday choices affect the earth? We'll explore together the environmental and human impacts of our economic choices, share ideas about alternatives, and each create a plan for how we individually can make a difference.