Plough Days: Third Grade's First Regional Adventure
The Third Grade had a wonderful time this past weekend! We joined children from seven other schools at the 2nd Annual Sunfield Plough Day Jamboree at the Sunfield Waldorf School in Port Hadlock, on the Olympic Peninsula.
The children put into practice many of the things that we are currently learning about in class. They planted garlic, harvested potatoes, built compost piles, sowed seeds for a cover crop, collected eggs, fed and milked goats, and even walked behind a plow drawn by a team of draft horses. The children teased and carded wool that was shorn from a sheep right in front of them. A huge highlight for us was cutting, binding, threshing, winnowing and grinding wheat into flour, which we will use to bake bread in the classroom!
Since all these Third Graders came from seven different schools, they were mixed into groups so that they could get to know each other. They will all see each other again next year at Potlatch, then the Olympiad, the Medieval Games, the Renaissance Feast and the Track Meets as they travel up through the grades. In the evening we formed a giant circle around the fire and each class shared songs or poems. It was beautiful to hear the variety in the performances. We are really looking forward to seeing all these children again in the future!
In the spring, our third graders travel to Sunfield Waldorf School & Biodynamic Farm in Port Townsend for Plough Days — a beloved regional farming celebration and overnight camping trip. An annual Farming block places the third graders elbow-deep in practical, real-world work, and Plough Days offers the perfect place to put those lessons into practice — surrounded by working farm animals, real tools, and fellow classmates from across the region.
A Day of Real Farm Work
Rather than simply observing farm life, students roll up their sleeves and take part! Throughout the day, children plow fields behind a working team of horses, work raw sheep's wool with their hands, grind oats into oatmeal, and shell beans. They feed cows, brush goats, and hold baby chicks and ducks — engaging, tactile moments that let students connect directly with the animals whose care and feeding they hear about in classroom stories.
Farming as a Bridge to the Wider World
Plough Days is more than a fun day outdoors — it's a milestone. As part of the "nine year change", third graders are learning to see themselves as capable, contributing members of a wider world beyond home and classroom. A day spent doing the genuine, sometimes messy work of a working farm — alongside peers from schools they’ve never met before — builds confidence and independence, while deepening their understanding of where food comes from and the effort it takes to grow it.
It's an experience our third graders carry with them well beyond the spring: a taste of real, hands-on responsibility, and a memorable first step into the wider regional Waldorf community they'll continue to meet again in the years ahead.
