In the final day of our first week, our original plan was to visit and pick strawberries at a strawberry farm, make strawberry jam, and listen to a guest speaker. Yet due to the weather, our plans were slightly changed. Early in the morning, Mrs. Maloy picked two baskets of strawberries, so we would still be able to make the jam. Each set of partners tried slightly different methods to see which would yield the best and/or quickest results. In general, each method followed a general structure: cut up the strawberries, add sugar and lemon juice, heat the mixture, stir until it is a jam. By the end, each method was successful, allowing each person to keep at least a half pint of strawberry jam. While this portion of our day was a complete success, our plans with our guest speaker did not work out, simply due to the weather. Instead, we used our afternoon to watch the documentary The Biggest Little Farm, which covers the progress of a 200-acre farm in California. Filmed by the farm owners, it details the progress they made in creating an “ecosystem” that they manage. It shows the relationships between various organisms, as well as how crops and farming play a role in their populations and growth.
