Clothing: Rainy Days, Cold Days, Hot Days

Farm School classes are entirely outside and active. Students run, jump, shovel, prune, feed cattle, maintain a pond and much more. Students need to dress for farm work and all weather, rain, cold and heat.

Footwear

Closed-toed shoes are required at all times; no crocs. Students may not sprint barefoot or in socks from the trampoline to the house or banyan tree!

Bug spray

Our class is outside and in early fall and late spring the new invasive mosquitos are around (not from our property!) Put on bug spray before you arrive.

Farm Work Clothes

Farm School clothes protect your skin from scrapes and scratches, are easy to work in, and can get dirty. You can run, jump, climb, and work in them.

YES: longer shirts covering your mid-section, loose pants or longer shorts, sensible shoes you can run in and use a shovel with (closed toed, easy to put on and off, no heels, platforms, can get dirty)

NO:

• clothes that expose a lot of skin that can get scratched/scraped/poked (muscle tank tops, crop tops, tank tops, short shorts, sheer anything) If it is hot, wear loose, light colored clothes instead.

• clothes that make it hard to move (tight, stiff anything)

• clothes that can get tangled in a steer’s halter, in a tree you’re climbing, in a tool you’re using.

• No shoes that have heels or platforms, holes, super long laces that drag (these are all tripping hazards)

  In general, save your awesome fashion statements for a different setting.

Hot Weather Clothing & gear

Mt. Helix is fairly cool and we have lots of shade at FS. That said, check the weather forecast before you arrive. September can see temps in the upper 80s or low 90s here.

• Loose, light colored clothes (no tank tops, no muscle shirts, no crop tops - you need to protect your skin when doing farm work)

• Bandana to get wet and drape around your neck

• Ice water in your water bottle (we have spots for you to re-fill)

• Sun hat & sunscreen — we have lots of shade but a sun hat is still highly recommended.

Cold weather gear

• Gloves, hat and scarf. I like fingerless gloves with a mitten closure so I can write easily then warm up my hands

• Layers to peel off. A good coat is helpful.

• Wool socks— warm even if wet

• Something warm to drink in an insulated thermos is awesome.

It can start out 50 degrees and then warm up to 75, but that time from 50 to 60 is pretty cold if you are in a T-shirt or cotton hoodie OR if you got wet. If it’s super cold we light a fire for recess. But that won’t help ill-prepared students during class time.

Rain Gear

If there is rain in the forecast on a Science & Language Arts day, your child will need to have the following:

REQUIRED GEAR

• Spare socks - wool socks. Wool socks insulate even when wet. Wet cotton or polyester have zero insulating value. Wet feet means a cold kid.

• Rubber rain boots

• Waterproof jacket (not water resistant-- more on this in a moment) with hood OR a plastic poncho

• Hat/hood (no umbrellas for Sci-LA and Shakespeare & Zoology; these are two-handed experiences. Umbrellas are okay for math)

RECOMMENDED RAIN GEAR

• rain pants or a waterproof (plastic-y) rain poncho to go over their rain coat to prevent their legs --usually thighs-- from getting wet OR a cheap football-gamesque plastic poncho. But the cheap plastic ponchos tear and need to be replaced occationally.

• warm gloves, warm hat, warm layer under rain coat

Waterproof and water resistant are very different.
A water resistant jacket just sheds a bit of water but you can't play or work in the rain for more than 15-30 minutes without water soaking through. So pack a cheap plastic poncho to go over the water-resistant jacket. If you have a raincoat that feels rubbery, then it is probably waterproof.

Don’t bother bringing an umbrella to Science and Language Arts as that class is a two-handed experience. You need both hands to feed animals or swing on the swings. An umbrella is fine for other classes.

What will we be doing in the rain?

• Farm chores

• Recess

• Project time and possibly creek studies if the creek flows

• If it is pouring we'll adjust our schedule to tackle our farm chores/animal husbandry during a lighter drizzle if we can get it but no guarantees on that. The animals have to eat regardless of the rain. We have a rainy-day shelter for seat work. But kids need to stay dry underneath their rain gear in the first place.
  

Students Your kids are hoping for rain because they are really stoked about having a fire and because rain is fun when you have the right clothing!