Chickens in the Land of Oz

Does this happen to you? You're on a tight deadline, desperately trying to finish a 12'x14' canvas painting of the Emerald City of Oz for your daughter's upcoming 5th grade play when up pops a chicken to inspect the wet green paint.

Didn't think so. This particular chicken seems to be a real art fan as she keeps popping back up to peck the canvas no matter how many times she's removed. Either she doesn't approve or the flowers look so real she's determined to eat them. So far all she's gotten for her trouble is a cap of green paint on her head.

Art Farm is pleased to announce that Jennifer Stowe has joined our team as a natural sciences teacher for our summer camp program. Jennifer holds a Master's in biology from the University of California at San Diego. She has been involved in local nature tours and environmental protection groups for many years. Jennifer notes: "I hike our mountains and trails, surf our waves, and grew up catching tadpoles in our local creeks. During college, I spent one summer in Montana identifying and cataloging native trees and shrubs as part of a conservation effort with the University of Montana's Biological Station."

As Art Farm's naturalist, Jennifer will provide students with a solid introduction to our unique, creek-side woodland habitat and the life it supports. She will instruct students in age-appropriate groupings with an emphasis on hands-on learning. The addition of Jennifer to our staff represents Art Farm's continuing commitment to educate local children about the beauty and importance of our biomes.

Art Farm enrollment continues throughout the summer! Visit our website at www.carlsbadartfarm.com for more information. Enrollments forms for summer camp are under the "Camp" tab. You may also contact us at 760-688-6147.

Requiem for a Dog

Our family at Art Farm lost a great dog this week. Hilda, our gentle and ever vigilant guardian of children, died from a sudden onset of seizures which led to a heart attack. Despite the best efforts of the ER vet who attended to her, she did not make it. Hilda was just six years old. Why this happened in an otherwise healthy dog is unknown, other than the fact that certain breeds of dog are known to be at risk for seizure disorders at Hilda's age.

Hilda was an intelligent dog of great dignity. Even here, dressed in a tutu and feathered purple headband by our daughter Emerson, left, and her cousin, Bey, she manages to maintain her noble bearing.

At Art Farm, Hilda was beloved by the many students who came for summer camp and classes. Even children who came here with a fear of dogs (and Hilda was a large dog at more than 80 pounds) couldn't resist her charms, and through her overcame their fear. Just last Saturday night, she was featured in a Girl Scout skit during a campfire. The scouts, our daughter's troop, was here for a camp-out. As always, Hilda was game for whatever young people had in store for her.

From earliest puppyhood, Hilda was a self-appointed guardian of children. As a puppy, we took her to our daughter's nursery school every day so the children could pet her and thus condition her to be gentle with them. Hilda took her puppy classes and then obedience training classes at the excellent Hidden Valley Obedience Club in Escondido. The club is a cooperative of experienced dog enthusiasts who work with owners and their pets at a nominal cost. It was a bit of a drive for us from Carlsbad, but well worth it because a well trained dog is both a responsible and joyful approach to dog ownership.

Art Farm, which is also our personal home, is dog heaven. Our dogs have free run of the 10-acres, and there are always people here to play with them. Hilda and our miniature mule, Picasso, who is also free to wander about our property, made endearing, if unlikely, companions. Mules very often don't like dogs, but this pair played together as if they were the same species.

Hilda was a very special dog, and her leaving us so suddenly and so relatively young has left a hole in our hearts. Many tears have been shed. Our daughter has lost a special friend, one that has been with her since kindergarten. A dog that guarded her at sleep and at play. A dog that always knew when we would be coming home across the bridge after school and waited for us. When it was time to retrieve Hilda's body from the vet and bring her home for burial under an old oak tree, Emerson, who is just 11, insisted on coming with me. She is brave that way. As we turned into an otherwise empty parking lot, we saw a brand new, slobber-free, bright green tennis ball just sitting there as if waiting for us. Hilda LOVED green tennis balls. It made us smile to see that tennis ball. I told Emerson that perhaps it was a sign. Perhaps, when dogs die and go to that great dog park in the sky, they drop tennis balls to earth to let their owners know they have their wings, and that they are OK.

Rest in peace dear Hilda.

Harry Says Hello to Girl Scout at Art Farm Campout

Our Art Farm alpacas, Harry Potter and Mr. Weasley, are now sporting their summer haircuts, courtesy of Jaimie Rios, our delightful shearer from Calexico. Jaimie, who shears sheep for a living, is kind enough to come all the way to Carlsbad just for this annual event. Harry positively detests getting his hair cut and created quite the fuss. To answer a commonly asked question, yes, Alpacas do spit. But generally they do not spit at people unless provoked. Even then it's usually more of a sputtering, as if the animal has allergies and is sneezing. Harry felt that being hogtied for a haircut was sufficient provocation for much more voracious spitting and so he spit at yours truly with great vigor several times.

But generally, Harry much prefers to give out kisses. Here he is greeting a local girl scout who attended a campout at Art Farm this past weekend. The girls had fun walking the alpacas around Art Farm on leads. The girls were also thrilled with the arrival of 45 day-old baby chicks on Saturday (more on that in the next post!) This troop of scouts also had their bridging ceremony to become cadet scouts on our wood bridge, traversing our creek.

Enrollments continue for Summer Camp and Saturday morning art classes at Art Farm. For more information and forms, visit us at www.carlsbadartfarm.com.

Art Farm at Carlsbad Beach Fest

Art Farm was pleased to be invited to participate this year in the 3rd Annual Carlsbad Beach Fest at Frazee Beach. The event took place this past Saturday. We had a great time helping kids (and quite a few adults!) make art using recycled metal bottle caps. It seemed like the perfect project for a day devoted to environmental awareness and beach clean-up.

Pictured right are me, Perrin Weston Coman, and one of my Art Farm aides, Kayli, who is taking AP art classes at Carlsbad High School.

Carlsbad Beach Fest's main goal is to support and promote the stewardship and protection of our beaches, the marine environment, and coastal waterways. Beach Fest is organized by the local State Parks office. As a participant, I was very impressed by their staff and volunteers. Kudos to them!

Our summer camp enrollments are continuing. Our week-long day camps begin June 14 and continue through mid-August. For more information about how to enroll read the previous posting on this blog and visit our website.

We are having a busy week at Art Farm. Students from Del Mar Hills Nursery School visited us today to make nature journals and spend time with our animals and more are on the way tomorrow. On Friday, a local girl scout troop will be spending the afternoon with us. For updates on Art Farm, we recommend subscribing to this blog. We post once or twice a week.