Pack Your Bags and Let’s Go Camping!

Story by Hayley Lassiter. Photo by Alana Dawson.

MARCH 10, 2017: On December 8th, 2016, the fifth grade class at Friendship Blow Pierce went on a camping trip to Alice Ferguson Foundation Hard Bargain Farm Environmental Center. While going there I was excited, but once we arrived, I immediately fell in love with the scenery of the camping grounds. The most adventurous parts of this camping experience was every thing that allowed me to interact with nature.

My most memorable camping activity was the two hour hiking trip. On the hike we learned a lot about plants, insects, and hiking in general. Being able to interact with what we were learning about stuck with me because I like to be able to see or touch the things I’m learning about. So, being able to touch trees and plants was meaningful for me. One interesting piece of nature that I can recall is the yarrow. The yarrow still lingers in my mind because it was a hairy plant that was not very attractive, but the scent of it caused me to love it!

My favorite part of this field experience was the hayride because I liked  seeing the Potomac River. When we arrived back to the farm, we came into the farmhouse to drink hot chocolate and eat snacks with our fellow campers. Hard Bargain Farm was one of my best field experiences in middle school.

On the last day, we all got to milk a cow. At first I was scared, but I put my fear aside and milked the cow. I am glad I put my fear aside because this is an experience I probably would have never been able to revisit. Overall, my field experience to the farm was really fun and a great learning opportunity.

Hayley Lassiter is a 5th grade scholar at Friendship Blow Pierce Academy.