Future Plans for the Garden
The Bill Gundacker
Teaching Kitchen & Carriage House
The Exhibits
The Kitchen Classroom & Learning Center will feature exhibits and educational programs from farm to table, focusing on the past, present and future of farming in the Central Valley. Our field trip lessons are all interactive and hands-on and offer age-appropriate lessons to children. We provide a setting for discovery and present challenging, educational exhibits with a goal to instill a desire for learning and develop respect and empathy for others. We have joined Let's Move! Museums & Gardens and are committed to offering interactive experiences that promote healthy eating and physical activity.
Farming Past
Children are able to visualize how early Kings County farmers lived and will learn to respect and appreciate all that came before them. Children get to handle period artifacts and can step back in time to experience the many facets of farm life. Children are able to explore the Farm History Museum House. They can play and learn in the Log Cabin, Charlotte's Dairy Barn, Nolan's Critter Creek flowing with water and a hand pump that really pumps water!
Farming Present & Future
The Learning Center programs feature interactive exhibits that illustrate current farming practices and the challenges facing Central Valley farmers, today, and how that affects our future. Classes participate in planting, growing and harvesting seasonal crops in the Kings County Farm Garden and Children's Kitchen Garden. They also participate in cooking classes, tastings, and demonstrations. Students learn about nutrition, the importance of healthy eating and staying fit.
The Victorian Treehouse
What will we do in the Tree House?
-
Locate the Tree House book box and enjoy reading the themed books.
-
Climb to the top and look around.
-
Discover all the seeds and grains in the little drawers and discover what they are and what their origin was.
-
Use your imagination and energy to play in the treehouse.
-
Pretend you are an animal that discovers this darling house. What will you do?
Books for the Tree House:
* The Magic Treehouse Books by Mary Pope Osborne
* The Berenstein Bears by Jan and Stan Berenstien
* Tree House Mystery (The Boxcar Children Mysteries, by Gertrude Chandler Warner and David Cunningham.
The Tree House will be the icon of the Garden and probably one of the first places new visitors to the Garden will want to explore.
Our amazing tree house will be a three-level adventure for children and for the young at heart! It will have a bit of Victorian influence, lots of interactive things to do, and lots of views of the Garden from various rooms and porches.
Our Tree House will be constructed by the Tree House Guys of Daniels Wood Land.
These guys are famous for their tree houses. They have been featured on TV. You have got to watch this video! Their work is amazing!
The Tank House Theater
This charming old water tower has been restored but is not yet open to the public. Our plan is to transform it into a museum exhibit theater. Inside it will have benches and a screen. There will be a button to press and watch a short film about water management and how it affects California Agriculture. We need a water company/business to make this happen for us!