Pirate Planet

All the News for a Fit Planet

Stevenson School Student Environmental Newsletter Animals in the Orchard Wild animals help sustainable farms. Page 2 Companion Planting Read about plants that work well together. Page 2 Powered by the Sun LiveEarth Farm uses the sun for all its energy. Page 2 LiveEarth Farm Chickens They are happy! Find out why... Page 2 Issue No 1: October, 2012 The Farmers Who is responsible for all these great things to eat? (and they take care of the Earth, too!) Page 3 Want to know how to milk a goat? or pick up a chicken? Check out... Page 4 and 5
Kale and tomatoes are eld friends! Free to be...chickens. Fresh goat milk tastes wonderful.

Special Fall Issue: LiveEarth Farm and Sustainable Agriculture bathroom. They have 80 acres for Native grass plants and they have 80 acres for all the different crops and animals. LiveEarth Farm is an organic farm. Organic means that their fruits and vegetables have no pesticides. It is all freshly picked, and none of it has any

The 160 Acres of Live Earth Farm

by Rachel S. and Erin S.
Live Earth Farms job is to let kids get their hands-on learning about sustainable agriculture. There are 160 organic acres at LiveEarth Farm. The Farm is in the foothills of Watsonville, CA. A sustainable farm is a farm that has more that one animal or crop. At LiveEarth Farm, there is a coop for the chickens, a goat barn with a work room, and a big shed with a
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chemicals. Some of LiveEarths crops that they grow are grapes, apples, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, carrots, raspberries, lemons, and limes. Go visit LiveEarth Farm and enjoy their 160 acres. We did!
Third Grade prepares for a full day in the eld.

Field and Environmental Studies

Ocean Guardians, Environmental Scientists and Developing Activists; Stevenson elementary to middle school students pursue their passion for the planet.

Animals in the Orchard

By Nekoda B. and Lucy D.

Companion Planting
by Owen S., Cash E. and Ardan D.

Powered by the Sun

by Hank S. and Bear S.

The Chickens of LiveEarth Farm

by Hamza A. and Dylan C.

We learned all about companion planting at LiveEarth Farm. Companion planting is planting to benet the soil and the plants. This article is about how some wild animals help apple trees and other plants to grow. Worms, snakes, moles, mice, and gophers air out the soil to allow plant roots more room to grow. Animal poop, like bird poop, has seeds in it, so that when wild animals poop a new plant might grow. There used to be invasive plants, like ice plants, at Live Earth Farm, and very little native plants until the farmers tore out the invasive plants. The farmers replaced the invasive plants with native plants. You need native grasslands and other plants to attract wild animals. Wild animals are helpful to plants and their farmers. Companion planting is a way of planting different crops together in the same eld to make the plants and the soil healthy. An example of companion planting is corn with peas, and tomatoes with peppers. Companion plants are planted like friends.

The chickens of Live Earth Farm are very interesting. These chickens are different colors like red, LiveEarth Farm has solar white, and brown. Their panels that take energy feathers feel soft and stiff. from the sun to power the But the Live Earth Farm whole upper farm, green houses and electric fences. chickens do not smell good at all. The LiveEarth The solar panels also help the water supply run better. Farm chickens and their eggs taste good because they are organic. These These solar panels are chickens are pasture important because they raised. Pasture raised power the electric fences means that the chickens that keep the animals safe from predators and people. are free to roam and are not in cages. The Using solar panels costs less money and is better for LiveEarth Farm chickens eat organic foods like the environment. grass, apple scraps and chicken feed. Organic feed and pastured raised means healthy chickens. LiveEarth Farm chickens are happy chickens!

172 Litcheld Lane Watsonville, CA 95076

2 Stevenson School Carmel Campus

The Farmers of LiveEarth Farm

by Molly M. and and Olivia C.

The Newman Pippin Apple

the original Central Coast apple by James B. and Morgan R.

The Newman Pippin Apple is a There is a farmer at LiveEarth Farm named Grace. She has blue eyes and yellow hair. Grace wore a big straw hat and said, Follow the hat! Grace owns a Border Collie named Rooster. There was also a farmer named Tom. Farmer Tom is the owner of LiveEarth Farm. Farmer Tom has sea blue eyes and short gray hair. He wore a blue shirt, and said Hi. He has a big, uffy white dog named Chella. We saw other farmers who were working in the elds. These farmers worked as a team. They were taking care of the crops. One farmer working in the eld was a bulldog owner. We know this because we saw his dog. Another farmer working in the eld was a dachshund hound dog. All the farmers were very generous to let us visit their farm! special kind of apple. Its grown at LiveEarth Farm. It has a lot of colors like green, red, orange, and yellow. The side of the apple that faces the sun is red and the side that faces the bark is green. It feels smooth and hard. It tastes sour, sweet, crunchy, and juicy. It smells like sugar. Newman Pippin apples are used for apple juice and are also good to eat.

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Milking a Goat
It s easy! Stevenson School Third Grade

By Evie S. and Shea S.

Stevenson School Third Graders learned how to milk a goat while visiting Live Earth Farm. Third Grade had lots of fun milking the goat! Now, we will tell you how to milk a goat. First, you pick a female Mamma Nanny goat. Next, gently tie up one of her back legs. Next, feed her a treat to keep her distracted and happy. Then, place a large bowl under her udder.

After that, make the OK sign with your ngers around the udder. Wrap your other three ngers around the udder and squeeze down. The milk will then come out! When you are done milking, untie your goat. Last, remember to wash your hands. Now you know how to milk a goat!

The Reporters

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Go Low and Slow!

Do you think you could pick up a chicken all by yourself?

by Katie C. and Lexi A.

Picking up a chicken is easy if you know how. First, get down into a crouch and go low and slow. Next, slowly and quietly move to the chicken you want to catch. Then, quickly start creeping up to the chicken. When you get really, really
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close to the chicken, quickly and rmly

close, then slowly move the head away from your

holding it. Gently set the chicken on the ground. You should try picking up a chicken sometime. Its fun!

Chicken Picker Upper Experts

put your hand on its back. Now you can carefully pick up the chicken. Cradle its body

body. Finally, lower the chicken and let the chicken spread out its wings and legs while still
5

In Appreciation
Thank you to LiveEarth Farm for showing us your 50 different fruits and vegetables, elds, orchards and native landscape of redwoods and oak woodland. You were wonderful hosts. Well look for you at our local farmers markets!

Production Editors
Thank you to Mary, Jackie and Carol for all your hard work typing and air dropping.

Ocean Guardian Team

Mrs. DeMarignac and all the Stevenson teachers-we thank you for helping us to understand that our environmental community and our planet need our active attention and care.

Copy Editors
Thank you Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Wilks and Mrs. Phillips for guiding us in our rst eorts at being newspaper reporters.

Field Managers
We are grateful to the following people for coming along for the ride: Steve, Lisa, Chuck, Carol, Danielle, Maryann, Mary, Nicole and Rika.

Managing Editors
Thank you Mr. Mueller, Mrs. Bozzo and Mrs. Barrow for your encouragement and support.

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