Our eggs join the best in the world!

If you are fortunate enough to dine at the world renowned Inn at Little Washington in the near future, you'll likely be eating food containing Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School eggs.  The Inn has many awards and accolades, including "the best inn restaurant in the world."  Now our eggs will be part of those delicious meals!

Our chickens have been cared for with tender loving care all summer by campers, counselors, and guides at the Mountain Laurel Montessori School elementary camp - thanks everyone! (see mountainlaurelmontessori.org for more information on camps).

Our chickens get to do what chickens love to do: scratch for insects in the pastures, take dust baths, and eat surplus vegetables from our gardens. We rotate the chickens throughout the farm, providing them with fresh pasture, and providing the pastures with nutrient-rich manure.  You should see the color of those yokes! - the way eggs should be.

Toddlers visit the Farm

Farm School student introduces a chicken

The Toddler Program students visited the Farm School for their end-of-year picnic. 

Animals, songs, and watermelon - a great combination!

Farm School students invite toddlers to fill pig water buckets

The pigs provided lots of entertainment

A Farm School student and a toddler look for eggs in the chicken tractor

Toddlers dance to rock and roll

Meet our rooster

Watershed Studies Trip: backpacking, swimming, beachcombing, and more!

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students spent a week-long adventure in and around Virginia Beach.  It was the culmination of the students' watershed study.  Having studied our individual water use and tested the water in the Farm School pond and local rivers, we traveled to the end of our watershed where the rivers meet the ocean.

Backpacking False Cape State Park - Day 1 (sun!)

Camping on the ocean

Reading original writing on Back Bay

Finding our watershed address: which way is North?

Backpacking False Cape State Park - Day 2 (pelting rain!)

Wet but doing ok

Watershed studies at the Virginia Aquarium

The marsh walk at the Virginia Aquarium

Watershed studies: identifying marsh grasses

the students found a live horseshoe crab

beach drawing

Ft. Monroe

Community Plant Sale

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students sell homemade food at the Waterpenny Farm Plant Sale

Farm School student spins wool into yarn

5th grade students take a trip to the Farm School

Farm School students have been studying the water quality of the pond and local rivers in the Watershed Occupation Project.  This week, they taught Mountain Laurel Montessori 5th year students how to test for dissolved oxygen, nitrates, and pH.

Farm School pond water testing

testing for nitrates

canoes for deep water sampling

testing for dissolved oxygen

a curious little turtle

Spring produce donated to Plant a Row for the Hungry

Proud of their harvest, Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students bring their produce to the Rappahannock Food Pantry and Plant-A-Row-for-the-Hungry

student grown broccoli, spinach, and kale

Mimi weighs in the broccoli

Thanks to Hal Hunter for getting this all started by donating the hoophouse!

Students harvest...

the broccoli they planted in March...

and bring it to the Food Pantry the same morning - couldn't be fresher!

First Hoophouse harvest!

Our first Hoophouse for the Hungry harvest is in!

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students have planted cool season plants, and have already harvested spinach and kale. The garden chore group has taken on seeding, transplanting, and daily watering.  

We took our first harvest to the Rappahannock Food Pantry and helped unload a bread delivery while we were there.

Thanks Mimi for your leadership at the Food Pantry!