We also worked with the Huss Experiential Learning Partners (HELP)—The Huss Project, Three Rivers Area Mentoring (TRAM), Three Rivers Public Library, and the St. Joseph County Great Start Collaborative—to coordinate a number of nature-based, experiential learning programs this year.
One of the first signs of spring on the Huss Project campus are eager TRAM students who spend their Friday afternoons after school here in the warmer months. Whether visiting baby lambs, engaging in nature scavenger hunts, painting flower pots, or planting seeds, The Huss Project farm and woods provide TRAMsters a unique opportunity for land-based experiential learning.
In June, The Huss Project also hosted TRAM’s nature-based day camp for four days. This year’s theme was “Gravity and Graffiti” and was a smashing success with a full registration of 24 students! Campers focused on a variety of science activities like chemical reactions inside balloons, a pipeline game, and an egg drop project. A definite sign this year’s camp was a triumph? Several new students had such a blast when the four days ended they enrolled in TRAM’s After School Program!
New this summer at The Huss Project was the launch of YEAH (Youth Engagement at Huss). Americorps VISTAs designed, recruited volunteers, and implemented this free, daily, 30 minute program for families. Activities included farm scavenger hunts, nature crafts, hiking-safety walks, taste tests, and harvesting produce like blackberries and cherry tomatoes. YEAH would come to a close each morning right when our summer lunch program, Meet Up and Eat Up, would serve free lunches to school-age children. This made it easy and convenient for families to take advantage of available resources.
In 2024 we hosted another season of weekly playgroups in collaboration with Great Start beginning in April and running through the fall. This year’s group—Books, Blocks, and Balls—brought children ages six and under and their families to The Huss Project Children’s Area where they utilized the farm as an experiential learning classroom. Micro grants were implemented this season bringing about several new and exciting design changes to this space like a mud kitchen expansion, new sandbox location, the addition of accessible planters, and more! In the colder winter months the playgroup meets at the Three Rivers Public Library, and will return to our campus in April.
We continued our partnership with local elementary schools this year, and our AmeriCorps VISTA members visited classrooms this spring at Andrews and Park Elementary. Students were eager to learn about all kinds of activities on our urban farm like the process of making maple syrup, and even visits from the baby lambs.
Norton Elementary brought their first and second graders to our campus in May for an experiential learning field trip. These students had the unique opportunity to walk our forest trails, learn how we keep our honeybees, and visit with baby lambs. The field trip was such a hit with both students and teachers, and we are already planning future school visits for 2025!
This spring we installed a rainwater catchment system with help from Poured Out volunteers and staff, as well as funding from the Grundfos Foundation. Located behind our People’s Plot, a large metal shed now houses a 3,000 gallon rainwater tank which collects rain from two of our roofs. This new addition to our farm has proven to be incredibly useful when it comes to irrigation for our crops, and it has also been an educational tool as we demonstrate to our neighbors the many ways we utilize the Huss building to collect resources we need.
As more research consistently proves the importance of nature and the multitude of benefits it holds for young children, we are excited to continue expanding our land-based education programing. Our dreams of making this type of learning is only possible through the support and generosity of our neighbors and community. If you’d like to show your encouragement for this ongoing work please click the donate link in the main menu. Thank you!