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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
When April Vacation rolls around, local venues gear up to offer crafts, new experiences, and captivating activities. While Powisset Farm in Dover has always offered a variety of enticing programs, they offered something brand new this year: Farmer for a Day. Monday through Friday, kids ages seven to ten were welcomed to the farm not only experience the wonders of rural life, but also receive an introduction to a number of culinary delights.
Each day held a new adventure for the newly inaugurated farmers. “It’s the first time we’ve done a half-day program like this,” Nicole Nacumuli, Engagement Site Manager, said. “The other vacation weeks, we’ve done mostly cooking.”
Each day on the farm held different surprises and experiences for the kids.
“In the morning we were with the pigs and the chickens, so we do a farm chore and then combine it with cooking.” Seeing the pigs was one of the bigger treats of the week for the kids. “We have pigs that just had babies, so I didn’t know we would be able to deal with them because we don’t open them to the public when they’re that young, but we took a peak at the them and then we fed the moms some food,” Nacumuli said.
The culinary part of the day was run by Meg Tallon. Tallon has worked with Powisset before, but runs cooking classes all over for all different ages. This particular week, she worked with Nacumuli to create a particular kind of menu. “Today, we went to go see the chickens and learned about the life cycle and how the egg is made. So back in the kitchen, we made crepes and popovers … it was all about the incredible egg,” she explained. “Tomorrow we’ll be composting, so we’ll do an all-vegetable day.”
The young farmers were able to engage with chickens and pigs, plant strawberries and chard, do composting, begin rock harvesting, and then use many of the materials from those activities to cook. In addition there were a number of crafts, including making homemade paper.
The pint-sized farmers, in turn, were granted a deeper understanding of where their food came from, not to mention a sense of responsibility.
That, of course, was on top of making memories with new friends.
