M5 Ranch School Summer Bucket List!

We are absolutely LOVING these long sunny days. Summer is an awesome time to start Ranch School (or visit past workshops that you haven’t gotten around to yet!). Our hope is that these workshops inspire, educate, and entertain you.

Each Ranch School workshop contains a variety of materials and activities for learners of all ages. You’ll find an in-depth text lesson that you can read or listen to, entrepreneur activities, math pages, coloring pages, A-Z fact pages, writing prompts, books lists, additional links around the web, and more. PLUS, each workshop contains an awesome video lesson, where we take you along to Five Marys Farms and visit friends around the country who are experts in their craft. After watching the video, it’s time to leave the screen at home, get outside, and start DOING!

We created a Ranch School SUMMER BUCKET LIST for you to work through the next couple of months. Each activity directly relates to one of our workshops… see if you can match them up before reading the descriptions below!

We challenge you to have all of these items crossed off the list by the end of the summer!

Download the PDF at the end of this blog post to print.

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Wild Earth Dyes

– Shibori Dye a White Shirt –

In our Wild Earth Dyes lesson we learned how to use natural dyes to color hard boiled eggs. We used things like onion skins, red cabbage, charcoal, turmeric, coffee, beets, blueberries, and more! To see how our eggs turned out and how to make your own, visit our Natural Dyes blog post.

We also learned how to shibori dye! Shibori is the Japanese word for a method of dyeing textiles. There are countless ways to create gorgeous designs using indigo – folding, twisting, stitching, binding, etc. We bought white rags for this lesson – but you can dye pretty much ANYTHING white that you have at home – sheets, shirts, pants, socks, pillowcases, the list goes on and on.

This workshop is filled with a detailed text lesson, A-Z fact pages, an entrepreneur activity, a natural colors hunt, a writing prompt, art pages, books lists, links around the web, and more!

We challenge you to shibori dye something this summer! What will you choose?!

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Camping & Survival Skills

– Make S’mores Over a Bonfire, Sleep in a Tent, and Go for a Hike! –

Some of our fondest memories are of spending time together outdoors, making s’mores and telling stories around the bonfire. We have a pretty short window when we can have fires outside here in California – so we are sure to take advantage of it when we can!

Our Camping & Survival Skills workshops are FULL of everything you need for a summer outside 🙂 We’ve got recipes for coconut granola, trail mix, and camp cobbler. You’ll also find a camping budget and checklist, a national parks list, a GPS worksheet, a crossword puzzle, videos on water filtration, fire safety, making shelters, and MORE!

We challenge you to a CAMPING WEEKEND this summer! Lace up your boots, trek out to the woods, pitch a tent, and find a trail to hike. Don’t forget your s’more supplies!

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All About Horses

– Ride a Horse –

If you’ve ever had the chance to be up close to a horse, you know how magical these creatures can be. We spend pretty much EVERY NIGHT during the summer around the arena as the girls ride…the nights we aren’t doing that, we’re probably at the rodeo!

In this workshop, we visit the ranch and meet the Five Marys horses. The girls give teachers Maddie and Becca a riding lesson – you’ll be able to learn some helpful tips if you’re also a beginner! We also include a behind-the-scenes video on the ranch where we watch Streak get horseshoed – such a fascinating process. This workshop also includes information on horse anatomy, book lists, horse links around the web, a detailed text lesson, A-Z fact pages, art pages, and more!

We challenge you to ride a horse this summer! Bonus points if you take a class or volunteer somewhere and learn the steps needed to take care of them!

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Tools & Building

– Run Through a Sprinkler –

There are few things that scream childhood more than memories of running through the sprinkler on a hot summer day! Throw on a swimsuit, hook up your hose to the sprinkler in your yard and run wild! OR, if you are someone who loves working with tools (or would like to learn!) we teach you how to make your own sprinkler in our Tools workshop. We use PVC pipes to create a pretty epic sprinkler that hooks up to your hose and spurts out water in all directions. We also include a project budget sheet, so you can see how much money you’ll need to save up if you’re buying the materials on your own.

We challenge you to run through a sprinkler this summer and embrace (or relive!) childhood!

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Fishing & Hatcheries – Releasing July 2021!

– Catch a Fish –

We are SO excited about this workshop release!!! First, we head down the river to visit Colin and learn all about fly fishing. Then we travel to northern Wisconsin in the middle of winter, trek out onto the frozen lake, drill holes, and learn how to ice fish from Andrew and Ben! We also take you inside an ornamental fish farm, Ozark Fisheries, in Missouri – we’ll learn all about the farm history, spawning facilities, production, and shipping facilities. Stay tuned! In the meantime…

We challenge you to grab your pole and head out to a creek, lake, pond, river, or even the ocean, and CATCH A FISH this summer!

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All About Chickens

– Raise Baby Chicks –

There is nothing quite like heading out to the barn and collecting farm fresh eggs to use for breakfast. Our hens on the ranch are free range and breed naturally with the roosters, so we end up with some pretty unique colored eggs! If you’re interested in learning all about eggs – check out this blog post!

In our All About Chickens workshop, the girls show you everything you need to know about raising baby chicks at home! Did you know that you can actually order baby chicks in the mail? You’ll come along to the post office with us when we pick them up and bring them home to the ranch. The girls also take you along to the feed store and show you all the supplies you’ll need to raise them. Also included is an entrepreneur’s worksheet (where you can budget out raising baby chicks as a business!), a breed research activity, A-Z fact pages, a crossword puzzle, art pages, books lists, and MORE!

We challenge you to start raising your own baby chicks this summer!

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Canning & Preserving

– Go Berry Picking –

Who doesn’t love berry picking?! We love going out to the berry patch and collecting baskets full of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. We like to eat a lot of them straight from the basket, but we also love canning them and making them into homemade jams. In this workshop, our friend Jenni from The Domestic Wildflower shares all of the equipment you’ll need and shows us a delicious applesauce recipe that you can make at home. This colorful workshop also includes an activity about pH (an important science in canning and preserving!), cooking measurements sheets, A-Z fact pages, a read aloud video, and so much more.

We challenge you to gather up some friends and family and go berry picking together – bonus points if you turn some of your harvest into homemade jam!

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Flowers & Arranging

– Arrange a Flower Bouquet –

One of my favorite parts about summer is when all of the wild flowers start popping up everywhere at the ranch and in the backyard of the guest house. I love collecting a random assortment and arranging them into a bouquet – the more natural, the better! I’m lucky enough to be friends with Erin from Floret Flowers, and we just planted a BUNCH of her Floret seeds – I can’t wait to see when they bloom.

In this workshop we learn how to plant flowers from seeds, how to grow succulents in a greenhouse, how to make your own flower food, how to create a bouquet from both wildflowers and grocery store flowers, how to make your own beautiful flower crown, AND we visit California Peony Company – the biggest peony farm in California! We have an entrepreneur activity where you can create your own flower shop logo, a dried flower arrangement activity (with 2 bonus videos!), A-Z fact pages, books lists, links around the web, art pages, and MORE!

We challenge you to make your own flower food, forage flowers outside, or buy some from the grocery store and arrange them into a beautiful bouquet to enjoy in your home or give away to a friend.

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Knots & Pocket Knives

– Hang a Tire Swing –

Have you ever swung on a tire swing before?! It can be wild and fun, or slow and relaxing – and they are always more fun with the accomplished feeling of hanging it up yourself! In this workshop you’ll learn PLENTY of knots so you can feel confident on tying up your rope. The girls love hanging on this old rope they hung up in the barn – still needs a tire though! 🙂

In this workshop we learn from Megan (a sailing pro!) – she shows us how to tie her favorite knots. Then we find Tessa out on the ranch and she shows us how to use a pocket knife (and pocket knife safety!) to cut baling twine. After that, we visit Acorn Pottery and Farm where they teach us both knots and pocket knife skills – knots to use on a trailer, a shoe, a fishing pole, and a TIRE SWING – plus, how to use a pocket knife to widdle a s’more stick – YUM!

We challenge you to practice your knot tying skills by making a fun tire swing – if you’re nearby a lake – try jumping off into the water!

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Butchery

– Grill a Steak –

Since we’re Five Marys Farms – we had to create a workshop about butchery! We hope that by sharing about butchery, others can learn the value of this trade. Many products throughout history, and still to this day, have been sourced from animals. Taking the time to intricately and purposefully butcher gives reverence to the creature that is being harvested.

In this workshop, we visit the ranch and see a field butcher (don’t worry, if you don’t want to see that part – we do have warnings letting you know when it is coming up!) and we also visit butchers across the USA and learn how they butcher meat for their families and friends. Then we take a look into our Five Marys shop in Fort Jones, CA and show you all of the different cuts we ship right to your doorstep. We ALSO visit the site of our custom butchery that is currently in the process of being built – SO MUCH is packed into this workshop!

Learn all about the parts of the pig, cuts of a cow, and segments of a sheep through interactive puzzles, a ‘Before We Eat’ read aloud video, A-Z fact pages, butchery decimals and fractions math sheet, a detailed text lesson (with audio!), book lists, links around the web, and art pages.

We challenge you to fire up the grill and prepare a steak dinner this summer!

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Tree Harvesting

– Have a Lemonade Stand –

There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to get your favorite produce from the tree to your local grocery store! We were inspired to learn more about tree harvesting after a field trip to Pacific Farms and Orchards Inc. where we learned all about prune harvesting – We take you along to see this fascinating process! This workshop is also packed with activities like a factor trees, volumes & conversion math sheets, a STEM challenge, A-Z fact pages, book lists, links around the web, art pages, a crossword puzzle, and ‘When Grandma Gives You A Lemon Tree’ read aloud video.

Think about all of the different fruits that grow on trees – lemons, apples, pears, peaches, pomegranates, cherries – the list goes on and on! Which is your favorite? Having a lemonade stand is something that just screams childhood – so we hope that even if you don’t have a lemon tree near you, you can go to the grocery store and have one of your own!

We challenge you to punch the numbers, buy the ingredients, prepare your goodies, and have a lemonade stand this summer!

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Winter Gardening + Gardening & Growing

– Plant a Garden –

We have TWO gardening workshops for you to explore! In our Winter Gardening workshop we learn how to start your garden in the cold months and plant things like garlic, root vegetables, broccoli, and more. We have a poetry page, winter gardening BINGO, a detailed text lesson (with audio!), a graphing activity, links around the web – the list goes on!

Our Gardening and Growing workshop will be released in July 2021! We can’t wait to share this one with you – we’ll be visiting farmers across the United States – including a classroom run flower business! We’ll visit the ranch and learn how to transfer seed starters into the garden – and we’ll show you how we built our garden from start to finish that we started this summer!

We challenge you to plant a garden this summer – flowers, veggies, herbs – in a garden bed or pot!

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Cooking & Grilling

– Make a New Recipe –

I always say that you are never to young to be in the kitchen! There are things to learn and experiment with no matter what your age. It’s also pretty convenient when your kids can make their own meals 🙂 We have quite a few workshops that contain recipes for you to try this summer! Camping, Survival Skills, Baking Pies, Cheesemaking, Chickens, and Breadmaking all contain delicious things for you to try.

In our Cooking & Grilling workshop, we make our favorite meatballs from my Ranch Raised Cookbook and I teach you how to cook the perfect steak! We also have a writing prompt about your favorite meal, some Five Marys Burgerhouse order forms to play chef with at home, art pages, a graphing activity, A-Z cooking tools, books lists, links around the web, and more!

We challenge you to make a new recipe this summer – one that you have NEVER tried before!

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We hope you are inspired to download this summer bucket list and start crossing out items!

Leave a comment below letting us know what you WILL and ALREADY HAVE crossed off this summer!

For MORE information about Ranch School and to sign up – CLICK HERE!

Download the bucket list PDF below to print!