Elkus Ranch Environmental Education Center

https://www.facebook.com/TheElkusRanch 

 

Located on the California central coast near Half Moon Bay, Elkus Ranch Environmental Education Center provides unique experiential learning for more than 9,000 Bay Area children and 2,000 parent/chaperones each year at a 126 acre working ranch. Over 25% of our visitors receive full-scholarships for the programming (thanks to the generosity of our community), which may include school bus transportation, hours at the ranch with our livestock and experienced educators, or a nutritious lunch served up from our commercial kitchen. The Environmental Education Programs at Elkus provide hands-on, minds-on opportunities to learn about the production of food and fiber, the inter-relationships of plants and animals in their natural habitats, limited water and soil resources, and the importance of environmental stewardship.

• While planting seedlings in the greenhouse, students learn about the function of roots, stems and leaves. In the garden they may taste flowers, identify pollinators, and learn about seed dispersal and composting.

 

• While holding a chicken, feeding a goat, or exploring our bone and fossil collections, students learn about adaptations, predator/prey relationships, and food chains.

 

• Demonstrations of dyeing, carding, and spinning wool encourage students to consider where their clothing comes from.

 

• "Lunch at the Ranch"  leads children into the garden to harvest fresh produce and then to our commercial kitchen to prepare an entire meal.

 

• The Healthy Living Ambassadors Garden Project brings Elkus Ranch and Youth Leadership out into local elementary school gardens as teens learn the basics of horticulture, nutrition, and health at the ranch, and then grow their experience and knowledge teaching elementary children in afterschool programs across the Peninsula.

 

For many children raised in the built environments of the Bay Area/Silicon Valley, Elkus Ranch provides their first encounter with bees, chickens, rabbits, sheep, hogs, goats, cows, and horses in the rural countryside. It has never been a more critical time for people to connect with their food and fiber sources as we build our next generation of informed problem-solvers and innovators. Limited land, water, and other natural resources of the 21st century require practical, connected thinkers in an age when less and less people work directly with such elements. Students gain the opportunity to see how humans, plants, animals, and our natural resources work together full-circle.

Staff from the University of California Cooperative Extension facilitate hands-on opportunities for children from preschool through high school to explore the processes of producing food and fiber in day and overnight ranch tours, nutrition programs, community service days, and special events. Our environmental science educator is available to work with teachers to customize programs to meet the needs/interests of their students and can provide instructional materials to use in the classroom prior to and after a ranch visit.  Livestock, gardens, and acres of open space create unique learning experiences for children and their adult chaperones.

The ranch is dedicated to providing these opportunities for ALL children including those with special needs. All facilities are fully accessible. 

Since the donation of the Ranch from Mr. Richard Elkus to UC Cooperative Extension in 1975, we have been maintaining and building infrastructures to make the ranch accessible to our Bay Area community. As with any working ranch, we have constant maintenance costs for our land, animals, buildings, and equipment.  Like any other non-profit, we work hard to sustain our programs with limited resources and are committed to keeping our programs affordable.   If you would like to make a contribution (large or small), please see our wish list for our immediate needs.  Thanks so much for your time on our page, and...

. . .please join us as we help cultivate the next generation of scientifically literate and culturally connected imagineers.  After all, it was Mr. Richard Elkus that said the ranch is a place where 1 + 1 could equal 3. Bringing together agricultural tradition and urban perspective within a diverse community of high-tech innovation can lead to something greater. Come visit us out at the ranch!