Charles L. Bowers School Farm

The 2018 Bowers Farm Fall Festival was a fabulous community event!  Mother Nature cooperated this year and we enjoyed cool days and bright blue skies. With a record turnout, it was so exciting to see everyone smiling and enjoying the festivities.  With endless wagon rides, over 1,000 pumpkins will light up families' homes this season.  The weekend also provided opportunities for younger children to enjoy bounce houses, face painting, jousting, and animal experiences.  There were also many hands-on experiences provided, including wool spinning, corn grinding, and honey extraction.  Best of all, it was a time to enjoy the season's favorite foods - cider, doughnuts, hot dogs, and food from food trucks, which included freshly made pizzas and tacos!  This event would not have been possible without our generous sponsors and volunteers, and our partners; Preservation Bloomfield and Friends of the Farm.  We would like to extend a heartfelt "thanks" to everyone involved who helped make the 2018 Fall Festival a huge success!  We look forward to expanding these community events into 2019 and beyond.  If you are interested in being a part of planning as a community member, please contact Jackie at the farm (248.341.6475).

After a incredibly successful 2018 Gardening Season, our Community Gardens Tilled Plots will close on November 1st. No-Till plots will remain open until December 1st. The Bowers School Farm wishes all of our Gardeners a huge "Thank You!" for your responsible, beautiful and bountiful horticulture! We wish you wonderful transition from fall to winter, and we hope to see you back in Spring of 2019! 

Current gardeners will receive an email from Jackie Doran, Farm Program Coordinator, during late January asking if they'd like to return.  Returning gardeners will have until March 1st to provide notice of their intention to return. Those interested in joining the Community Garden waiting list should also email Jackie at jdoran@bloomfield.org providing your name, phone number, email address, and type of plot you are interested in (Tilled vs No-Till). Should plots open, prospective gardeners from the waiting list will be notified by phone call in the order in which they joined the list. 

Friends of Bowers Farm hosted a full house at its recent Community Horse Program October Orientation. In response to the immense interest participants have expressed in the Community Horse Program (CHP), the Friends of Bowers Farm Board of Directors, who are the CHP founders, have shared their updated vision for the program and its participant recruitment. From the Friends of Bowers Farm CHP founders: 

• The purpose of the CHP is to enroll qualified participants from the community to raise money, awareness and support for the horses at Bowers School Farm while providing access to the horses for riding, care, and skill building.
• The CHP program is a fundraiser designed for adults that can operate safely and confidently with horses in the field without supervision. The CHP is not a horse instruction school.
• The Certification Program, which preludes membership, is not designed to teach the inexperienced or the very young about horses. Its purpose is only to share best practices and help members learn the unique features of our property and the herd.
• If you are inexperienced with horses, this program is not a fit for you
• If you are a parent of children under the age of 16, you will need to be certified and will need to participate as a supervisor with your child during their member visits.

For more information, visit friendsofbowersfarm.org, or contact info@friendsofbowersfarm.org.

This November, we are excited to share our Michigan Heritage knowledge with our fifth grade students! Our Heritage Program encourages students to explore Michigan settlement history by participating in a variety of activities. Students will participate in chores from the past including will making staple food supplies of the early 1700's. Students will also perform experiential trading of goods as the Native Americans and Settlers did during this eighteenth-century time period. This will allow students to meet their social studies curriculum benchmarks through hands-on experience and crafting. We are looking forward to seeing fifth grade students from schools throughout Bloomfield Hills and its peer districts this November for our exciting Heritage program!

Interested in visiting the Bowers School Farm for Heritage or other programs? Contact Jackie Doran, Farm Program Coordinator by phone 248.341.6481, or by email at jdoran@bloomfield.org. Our 2019 calendar is filling fast! Schedule your school program today!

In conjunction with our “One Bloomfield” philosophy, we are looking for community volunteers who would like to be a part of the planning team for our large community events. These include: Fall Festival, Winter Blast, Spring Fling, and Art on the Farm.  If you love people, planning, organizing, team-building, outreach, the farm and its animals, this is a great opportunity to help us make these events even better, and have your voice heard.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Alan Jaros, Farm Education Director, at ajaros@bloomfield.org, or call the Bowers School Farm Office at 248.341.6475.

First Grade students visited the farm for their “Our Farm in Fall” program. Students explored the Pumpkin Patch, learned the pumpkin life cycle and selected their favorite pumpkin to take home. Connecting the farm to the food they eat, students prepared and enjoyed a “Harvest Mix” of dehydrated Michigan apples, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and popcorn. The experience continued by focusing on our farm animals and their basic needs and what changes are happening on the farm during the fall season. They heard a story about farm animals written by a children’s author, then saw the story the Bowers Farm guides shared about our farm animals. The extension back to the classroom is a template for the students to create their own page for a classroom farm story that they will create together. It was a great October with these curious learners.

Interested in a class at Bowers Farm? Register Here!