Summer Farm Camp
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Farm School
Farm schooling provides hands-on agricultural and environmental learning experiences! Black Ridge Farms offers our students the opportunity to be immersed in regenerative farming practices both through our farm animals and gardens. Children get to plant, harvest and care for animals in all different seasons. This fosters a deeper understanding of food production, sustainably, ecological processes, empathy growing and more!
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Nature & Forest Exploration
Our 5 acres of forest area offers ample opportunities for forest exploration! Children get to enjoy unstructured free play in the forest and in some seasons we explore the Palouse river. Children learn survival skills, plant identification, campfire cooking, foraging including medicinal plants and learning their purposes, risky play and more!
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Montessori
The Montessori method integrates into all we do here at Little Farm Nature School. Our owner, Mrs. Calli has been a Certified Montessori guide for over a decade. We focus on child led and self directed learning. Our teachers are viewed as guides who aim to observe, support when needed, meet children where they’re at and treat all children with respect and dignity. Our learning environment IS the curriculum and we believe it’s the child’s greatest teacher. The environment is carefully prepared both outdoors and in our tent (in spring and fall seasons) with different Montessori activities.
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Mixed Age Learning
A wide range of ages and children in different planes of development creates a diverse learning community that fosters positive peer interactions,collaboration, empathy, student lead leadership skills, exchange of knowledge and experiences among children of different age groups.
“Free mingling of children who differ broadly in age is a key element to children’s ability to educate themselves successfully on their own initiatives.” Peter Grey: Free to Learn
Summer Farm Camp Sessions
Located at Black Ridge Farms, 1/2 a mile out of Palouse WA
Ages 4-12
Monday - Thursday 9am - 1pm
Session 1: June 10- 13 - Dairy Cow Week -SOLD OUT
Session 2: June 24-27 - Wool Week- SOLD OUT
Session 3: July 8-11 - Bee Week
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Cost:
$240 per session
Includes a healthy snack each class and a farm camp tee-shirt. Each session will focus on different themes so children will get different experiences if you choose to sign up for more than one session.
*Sibling discount $40 off each sibling that attends each session.
Payment plans can be offered please ask me about it.
Register:
To save your child’s spot the following must be complete:
1.) Fill out the registration form here.
2.) Pay for session. Pay via Venmo App: Callianne-Stipe or I will send an invoice via email within 24hrs of receiving your registration form.
Other Info:
The option to stay on site is also available to accommodate families who have longer commutes or if you’d just be more comfortable staying on site. We will have available a space for parents to hang out with refreshments and WIFI available.
A peak into a day at Summer Farm Camp
Feed animals - A great way to start the day is caring for our furry and feathered friends. Black Ridge Farms has sheep, pigs, cows, turkeys, chickens, ducks, quail, rabbits and livestock guardian dogs. Children are invited to feed our animals and interact as much as they are comfortable with.
Play and exploration - During this time children will get to choose from a broad range of Montessori activities that fit their interest. We have activities developmentally appropriate for all ages that come to camp! This may include, woodworking projects, flower cutting and arranging, grain grinding, farm animal studies, and gardening. They may also choose an art activity, play in our mud kitchen and loose parts area. A teacher may lead a group project that correlates with the theme of the week such as milking the cow and making butter and cheese.
Snack time - The children are invited to harvest snack from our garden, chop and prepare together. Two of our days each session we will make a snack cooked on the campfire.
Hike to forest - On our way to the forest we can learn plant identification, forage plants and discuss their medicinal purposes.
Forest exploration - Children get to explore in the forest and play! Some days we will have a forest based project planned such as sling shot making, egg drop contest, nettle cordage making, and fort making.
Lunch - We all eat our packed lunches together.
*Structure of class is flexible and may vary by each theme of the week
Register:
To save your child’s spot the following must be complete:
1.) Fill out the registration form here.
2.)Pay for session. Pay via Venmo App: Callianne-Stipe or I will send an invoice via email within 24hrs of receiving your registration form.
Meet the Camp Teachers
Calli Stipe
Early Childhood Development Educator, Certified Montessori Guide & Mom of two, owner of LFNS.
I am a Palouse native born and raised on a farm and now a farmer's wife, flower and herbal garden lover, nature lover, and a mom to two busy boys usually running feral around our little funny farm in Potlatch about 10 minutes from LFNS. The things I could talk about all day are; Montessori, homeschooling, preserving childhood through nature play, getting children involved in agriculture processes and back to learning important life skills our fast Modern day world has disconnected us from.
I found my passion for working with young children early in life. I studied Early Childhood Development at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. During college is when I discovered the beauty of the Montessori method and when my passion and career in Montessori education began. My husband and I moved to Boise Idaho where I received my Montessori Teaching Certification through Caspari Montessori Institute. I then opened my own Montessori Preschool, called Little Farm Montessori in our home with a backyard farm. I loved seeing my little students blossom from a Montessori farm based program of just a few chickens and a small garden. I loved every second of it but after several years of teaching in the classroom, I had to step away when life brought us other opportunities back on the Palouse in 2020.
In 2023, Black Ridge Farms opened up the possibility of starting a program on their farm and that’s when the possibility to create my dream program began! Little Farm Nature School offers children the best of all three worlds and my greatest passions - Montessori, farm schooling, and nature/forest school! I love seeing children from our community fully benefiting from our classes alongside my own children and THAT makes my heart truly soar!
Morgan Stevenson
BS Psychology & Early Childhood Development & Mom.
At my core, I love being outside and learning from nature. I moved to Northern Idaho in 2011 and graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Child Development and Psychology in 2019. The intersection of childhood development and education and nature exploration has always been so exciting to me. I taught at Palouse Roots nature school from 2020-2021 and observed firsthand the multi-faceted benefits of child-led nature play, particularly in the early years. I am so excited to be a part of Little Farm nature School and hope to spark a love of nature and creativity in my students there. With my background in psychology, I am deeply committed to helping children thrive in positive, loving environments.
When I can, I love hiking and camping, gardening, and curling up with a good book, all while raising her intrepid two-year-old daughter alongside her husband in Moscow, Idaho.
“Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.”
-Thomas Berry
Contact us.
littlefarmmontessori@gmail.com