| |  | | “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” Helen Keller | |
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OPEN BARN & VISITOR CENTER HOURS |  |
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Bowers School Farm will be open July 8 for Farm Kitchen & Store and Open Barn. We are still closed July 7 due to temporary district shutdown.
Open Barn will be closed on July 15 in lieu of the Oakland County Fair. Please visit our staff and youth at the fair. Details below. . Thank you for your continued support. |
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Farm Kitchen & Store: | We continue to have a variety of produce in the Farm Store so be sure to stop by regularly.
New this week: Locust Honey just extracted from hives on Bowers Farm (limited supply). Ice cream is always a summer favorite, along with other local items including jams, Johnson Nature Center maple syrup and local honey (partially supplied from hives at Bowers Farm). |
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Open Barn takes place Saturdays at 9am-3pm during July and August. Please note that we will be closed July 15 (see below under Fair). | | Learn More About Open Barn |
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Oakland County Fair (and why we are closed on July 15): |
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Visit the Bowers Farm animals at the Oakland County Fair on July 7-16. Our 4-H and FFA youth will be participating and showing animals with the support of our staff. We look for our Bowers School Farm community to connect with the greater community and support other local youth who have a passion for agriculture at the fair! Layer on the variety of fun available at the county fair - and it’s a natural choice to close our barns to go and join in the fun at the fair! Follow along on Instagram for fair happenings! |  |
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 | Special Fair Activity: Take a selfie at the Fair when you find a Bowers animal and submit it for a drawing to receive a special Bowers prize! One prize awarded to someone chosen at random. Enter your photo HERE. |
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Member Exclusive: Pick up Fair Coupons at Open Barn on July 8: The Oakland County Fair is just around the corner! As a thank you to our members and in support of our youth volunteers, attend Open Barn on July 8 and receive either: Buy One Get One Super Kicker Rodeo Ticket for Wednesday, July 12 at 7 pm, or $2 off daily parking tickets to the Oakland County Fair. (Limited quantities available) |
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Local meat is available in the store! We have FRESH frozen lamb and beef, with chicken arriving soon. Keep an eye to our social media for specials and new arrivals. |
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Looking for something specific our would like to get on our list for our next Beef Box (100lbs) - please email Kate Bell kbell@bloomfield.org
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 | Check out our Production Garden Tours with details under "Community Programs" below. |
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It’s hard to believe it is July already! This has been a whirlwind of a Spring. We’ve been busy setting up the new field at the front as you enter Bowers Farm for vegetable production. We are also planting a raspberry patch and flower patch in the lower garden.
Currently we are harvesting kale, garlic scapes, cabbage, beets, scallions, head lettuce, and basil. In the next few weeks we’ll begin harvesting sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, cucumbers, and zucchini. For more production garden updates please follow bowersfarmharvest on Instagram. |
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UPCOMING COMMUNITY PROGRAMS |
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Diverse Learners Day at the Farm
This specialized Open Barn program is designed for children with special needs to provide a more accessible experience for the child and their family. | | Diverse Learner Info |
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Open Barn Bonus Experience: Production Garden Tours Join us for a tour of the Bowers School Farm production garden where we grow vegetables for our farm store. Dates: July 22 & August 12 | Registration Opening next week on the Open Barn page. |
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Summer Cooking Class Come and spend time harvesting seasonal vegetables fresh from our fields and cooking your meal in our kitchen for a one of a kind farm experience. | Registration opening next week on the Community Classes page. |
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Our partner beekeeper, Kerry Wysocki, manages our hives at the farm and also supplies honey for our store. Come in and purchase our local honey! |  |  |
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Tracy, a Bowers guide, is learning about bees through the SEMBA program here at the farm. Tracy shares some amazing facts. - Bees have 5 eyes: 2 compound to see shapes and 3 small ones on top of head for light. - Bees fly about 20 mph. - An average beehive can hold around 50,000 bees. - As foragers, they collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey. - The average forager makes about 1/12 th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. - Bees are important because they pollinate approximately 130 agricultural crops in the US including fruit, fiber, nut, and vegetable crops. Here at the farm, they pollinate our tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, and more. |
Can you find the queen be in the picture? |
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JOHNSON NATURE CENTER PROGRAMS |
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Bloomfield Hills Schools offers limited opportunities for students entering 11th grade who are interested in experiential-based high school learning. Enrollment under Section 105 in a participating Specialty Academic program allows Oakland county residents outside of our district's boundaries to attend Bowers Academy located at Bowers School Farm.
With a focus on social-emotional health and community involvement, Bowers Academy supports learners who seek a nontraditional environment as they earn their Bloomfield Hills High School Diploma.
School of Choice applicants must be residents of Oakland County and meet specific criteria, including entering junior year of high school and willingness to engage in an on-site experiential learning community. The acceptance of applications will begin Monday, August 7, 2023 at 8 a.m. and end Friday, August 18, 2023 at 5 p.m. |
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