At this Cotati farm, kids are encouraged to play in dirt, find insects

Oh, to be an earthworm at Cotati’s Sandy Loam, where farm, nature and art-based enrichment programs and camps for kids celebrate a myriad of creatures important to the environment and the varied ecosystems where they dwell.

Worms, roly-poly bugs (crustaceans, actually) and even gophers notorious for devouring plants unintended for them, all have value and purpose at the historic Veronda-Falletti Ranch, where Sandy Loam offers year-round programming for children and teens.

Launched last year in partnership with the City of Cotati, Sandy Loam — named for the rich soil on the picturesque 4-acre property — engages kids as young as 3 with programs emphasizing sustainable agriculture and respect for nature.

Kids can dig in the dirt for decomposers like earwigs and beetles. They can use magnifying glasses to examine insects, plant seeds, conduct scientific experiments, create enrichment materials for the resident animals and much more — all while having fun, learning, enjoying teamwork and caring for the urban farm that dates to 1913.

Teenagers are inspired by nature to explore visual arts like expressive painting, calligraphy and collage art through solo and collaborative projects led by a professional artist.

After only an inaugural year, “We’re pretty proud of where we are right now,” said Sandy Loam administrator Aishwarya Kancharla.

It wasn’t long ago that she discovered the ranch while out on a walk, “incredibly curious” about the West Sierra Avenue property across the street from Cotati City Hall and a block or so from the downtown La Plaza Park along Old Redwood Highway.

The site, owned by the city since 2008, includes a farmhouse with classroom and workshop spaces, a tank house, two barns and greenhouses, gardens, fruit trees and grazing pastures for the livestock: two cows, three goats and five sheep named for different grasses (Bermuda, Bluegrass, Clover, Alfalfa and Timothy), plus enclosures for the eight hens and two roosters. A colorful river of hand painted decorative rocks is on display. In its early years, the property housed a chicken ranch.

Today Sandy Loam co-manages the property with Farmster, a community-based agriculture organization that cares for the animals and offers land management education, community events, internships and volunteer opportunities. Both groups enhance the city’s efforts to maintain Veronda-Falletti Ranch as a protected natural resource.

“We have excellent support from the community and the City of Cotati,” Kancharla said. “It’s been a good launch.”

A place for the curious

Ashley Wilson, the city’s recreation manager, said the pilot programs have been “very, very successful,” with lots of positive feedback. “Everyone who has gone there said they loved everything there, and all the animals.”

Having a farm within the downtown neighborhood has multiple benefits, she said. “It’s nice because it’s not too outdoorsy. You don’t need a four-wheel drive to get there.”

As the new academic year gets underway next month in Sonoma County, Sandy Loam will continue its popular offerings. Enrichment programs held on early-release school days will resume for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and Sandy Loam will welcome back several preschools for monthly educational field trips that complement their classroom curriculum.

Participants from outside the Cotati-Rohnert Park area also are welcome. Programs are pay-what-you-can, with no one turned away due to inability to pay. The suggested fee for the licensed early-release enrichment program is $10 to $45 per session. Parents and caregivers are welcome to stay on the farm or drop off children for themed activities like “Creepy Crawlers and Decomposers” and “Winged Friends.”

The students “have an innate interest and curiosity about the world around them,” said Tammy Eaton, farm and enrichment program specialist at Sandy Loam. “A lot of children don’t have an opportunity to dig into dirt and find creatures. They’re so excited about it.”

Understanding Mother Nature

Free Youth Ranch Day open houses at the farm typically include art, music, activities and visits from the Sonoma County Library BiblioBus, a mobile library service.

“We have repeat people who come every time,” Eaton said. “They just love it out here, and the animals.”

The monthly preschool field trips, which already have welcomed nearly 100 children, provide hands-on opportunities to learn about the farm and its inhabitants, including up close encounters with all-important insects.

“It’s fun to watch them play and learn and explore,” Eaton said.

Under her guidance, the preschoolers started plants from seed, learned about composting, made a dust bath in a recycled tire for the chickens and created nature crowns using leaves, twigs and other discoveries from Mother Nature — and much more.

Older kids have studied the weather, making everything from windsocks and windmills to thermometers.

“Basically they’re digging a lot deeper into the curriculum,” Eaton said.

Building appreciation

For Kancharla, who also works as an administrator at Sandy Loam Sustainable Communities’ Montessori-based preschools Bright Skies in Penngrove and Rainbow Bridge in Cotati, Sandy Loam is all about possibilities. She’s already looking forward to adding more programs.

“Actually, my dream is to have a farm-to-table culinary program for preschoolers,” she said.

She’s mainly hopeful students who visit Sandy Loam will come away with a lifelong appreciation and understanding of the natural world and the knowledge “that they have an incredible, beautiful Earth and will advocate for that.”

By using Montessori-inspired principles of respect and care, the lessons at Sandy Loam emphasize the value of all components in the world. Wriggly earthworms, for instance, are carefully studied and then kindly returned where they were found. Kids are encouraged to appreciate spiders and insects rather than fear or stomp on them.

Sandy Loam staff even have come to an understanding about the hordes of gophers residing at the farm. When gophers were responsible for the overnight disappearance of three big flax plants in the butterfly garden.

“We decided we need to adapt around them,” Kancharla said. “They aerate the soil and they weed. I had to shift my mindset on how they can be partners in the garden.”

Wildflowers, she said, grow well where gophers have left holes — a colorful lesson at the farm. Perhaps that will be discussed around the log circle where students gather for stories celebrating farm life and the natural world around them.