Simple Wonders

Last weekend, WSD’s mobile classroom, a 10-passenger van known as “Moby,” took eight Middle School students to the Ogden Valley for a winter campout. The destination was Dancing Moose Farm, an educational farm for ecology and sustainable living, founded by Ogden entrepreneur, Dan Dailey. Over the past 25 years, Dan has been renewing and converting the 17.5-acre parcel near Huntsville, UT, to a home for his family, a working farm, and an educational facility.

The eight students and three teacher chaperones left school midday on Friday for the farm. Dan met the students as they arrived and helped settle them into their camping yurts before taking them on a tour. He talked with students about the concepts of permaculture and sustainability and the farm’s philosophy of caring for the earth, caring for people, and sharing excess. Students spent the rest of the evening preparing food, learning to tell a good story, singing together, and taking a moonlight snowshoe hike. The evening ended around the fire with s’mores and impromptu poetry!

The next morning, after preparing breakfast and cleaning up, the group headed over to the hills below Snowbasin for sledding and snacking before heading for home.

“It was a wonderful 24 hours,” remarked Steve Williams, WSD’s Executive Director and one of the chaperones for the trip. “We took time to express gratitude for simple things and to share food and stories together. I look forward to more trips like this in the future.”