Just before the onset of the pandemic restrictions in Mar 2020, we had a memorable trip to a farm with our older elementary children. Though we have had many night stay experiences earlier at the Bodhana campus itself, this is the first time we took our children for an overnight trip outside the campus. We were equally thrilled like our children.
We stayed on an organic farm and had a complete farmer’s day experience doing all chores from ploughing, waste segregation, preparation of organic compost as well vermicompost, pot mixture preparation, planting Herbs and vegetables, taking care of the cattle and their shed, tried their hands on milking the cow. The interest that children had in doing these activities is commendable. Though some children had a little hesitation, in the beginning, they all tried the activities.
It would be more apt if you hear from the children about the experiences they had. Here you go.
Milking Cow:
“It felt like jelly” – Layaa
“the thingy was like rubber” – Aarjith
“It was more like kneading slime” – Johanna
“I was so shy and afraid. I didn’t milk however saw some of my friends milking” – Ajitesh
Waste segregation and Vermicompost:
“Enjoyed the waste segregation the most but didn’t like touching the cow dung at all.” – Aarjith
“I took the compost part which had earthworms and used for planting” – Sricharan
“ I was so thrilled to do vermicomposting though he was not comfortable handling waste segregation and cow dung” – Pranav A
Handling Goats:
“Enjoyed handling goats – I really liked it because the goat I took was very fluffy, friendly and also hungry. It ate the whole branch in 2 minutes” – Bhargav
“I loved it soooooooo much. The adult goat ran away from me and my partner. ! thought it was kinda hard bathing the adult one, but the small goats were way harder but still, I loved lifting the small goat up in my hands with Sushma and Krithika aunty” – Johanna
Cleaning the cattle Shed:
“A wonderful and messy experience” – Bhargav
“It was so good I loved it I also cleaned cow dung there” – Ajitesh
“it was great but a little bit stinky” – Rishi
Working on fields in Hot sun:
” I still remember how hot that was. It was just a session for us but it is what the farmers do every day. This increases the respect on them” – Jesina
“I used my slippers to protect myself from the hot sun and in just a little bit of time the uncle let me do those work… he kicked me out ugh” – Johanna
“ I liked the hot sun” – Sri Charan
Pump Set Bath:
“I loved the pump bath and the most fun part is Sahana and I had extra time at the bath he he..” – Johanna
“I loved bathing in the pump set” – Sricharan
“Best part – Pump set bath” – Aarjith
“I loved the bath in the field splashing water but my leg got stuck in the wet soil” – Ajitesh
Otherwise :
“Food was tasty. I ate more chappatis(8). I played torchlight fight with friends. I didn’t have a secret code in the game (god, villager, doctor, police, mafia and wizard), but my friends always thought that I was the mafia…” – Sricharan
“The food was very tasty but the part I really liked was the time when Samridh, Pranav and I found a secret code written in invisible ink. The treasure was a new fountain pen which Pranav took. The trip was very nice. I wish we could go again.” – Bhargav
“It was very fun playing mafia and all other games. The most fun was sleeping; We told each other some scary stories and we switched on our torchlight and put it up in the ceiling and tried to catch other’s torchlight” – Layaa
“At night Sricharan, Logith and I woke up at 3 AM and we started chatting” – Aarjith
“The watermelon hunt was pretty good, but I had a lot of silly things like those dry weeds sticking to my pants. It was soooooooo itchy. I hate that one alone” – Johanna
“I loved the rice and sambar. I loved the lock and key catch and catch I was so tired during bedtime after a long day but I played a lot during the afternoon” – Ajitesh
“I was drawing when everyone playing mafia. And I took my torch and I was playing puppet show” – Rishi
“I was really excited had a lot of fun, waiting for the next trip with my friends and aunties.” – Logith
Secrets:
Samridh claims he loved the trip the best for spending time with his friends. “ It was… …sooooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooool. the happy thing I did is skipping the story session and playing detective games (which aunties are not supposed to know )also shadow games(only Pranav, Bhargav, Prakrithi, Johanna and I) and you do not tell others!!!!”
(Ok, we will pretend that we didn’t read this part Samridh!)
“I loved doing secret codes with the boys and when all the were in Uma Aunty’s story session, Prakrithi, Pranav, Samridh and I played mysterious game with codes and investigation. Then Prakrithi, Sahana, Layaa,
Jesina and I got to the bed, we waited for Uma Aunty to fall asleep. Then we took our torches and played ghost game he.. he… and there must be a lot more things that aunties dint know about our secrets he,,, he..” – Johanna
Oh my God! So many things that we were not aware of, that these children have tried. Our children and we are completely yarning for our next farm trip.