With the placing of Reserve Championship for both our Middle and Upper School teams this weekend at Camelot Farms, both of Double J Riding Club’s Interscholastic Equestrian Teams have qualified for Regionals this winter. Along with our Middle and Upper School teams a handful of riders qualified for Regionals individually. We can not be more proud of our IEA team and all the work they have put in this year!
2020 Summer Intermediate/ Advance Horse Camps!
Open to Intermediate and Advance Riders only. This 4 day, 5 hour long day camp is filled with everything an experience horse lover would dream of including;
Campers bring their own snack, lunch and plenty to drink.
Weeklong Camps
Monday-Thursday
Ages 8-15
11 am – 4 pm
$375 per week
Intermediate Camps
(must know how to walk, trot and canter and have taken a minimum of 3 months of weekly riding lessons)
Week 1: June 22nd- 25th
Week 2: July 13th-16th
Week 3: August 3rd- 6th
Day Camps: $95 per Camper
June 26th
July 17th
August 7th
Advance Camps
(must know how to walk, trot and canter in a group setting and be going over jumps in weekly lessons)
Week 1: June 29nd- July 2nd
Week 2: July 20th- 23rd
Week 3: August 10th- 13th
Day Camps: $95 per Camper
July 3rd
July 24th
August 14th
A Few Things to Keep In Mind:
Camp T-Shirts
Purchase a one of a kind Double J Riding Club 2020 Camp T-shirt when you sign up for camp!
$20
Girl Scout Online Workshops:
Join us on Zoom for online girl scout workshop badges! Each workshop is 1 hour long and is priced at $5 per scout (5 person minimum). Contact us at doublejevents@gmail.com to schedule an online workshop today!
Daisies:
-Animal Adventure-
Throughout this online badge your troop will work on elements of the 5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals Journey. In this Journey, Girl Scout Daisies will learn to care for animals and for themselves, use their new knowledge and creativity to teach others how to care for animals and gain courage and confidence in teaching others about animal care. Daisies will learn about our Farmhouse full of pets, including hedgehogs, guinea pigs, serama chickens, pet rats, tortoises, chinchillas, blue tongue skink, rabbits, lizards, axolotls, snakes, zebra finches and more. Daisies will then learn to relax by doing some fun animal yoga.
Brownies:
-Pets-
This outing will teach Girl Scouts what they should know about owning and caring for a pet. Activities include a discussion on the basic requirements of pets, pet nutrition, pet health and safety, and communication. Each scout will also make their own pet budget. Brownies will learn about our Farmhouse full of pets, including hedgehogs, guinea pigs, serama chickens, pet rats, tortoises, chinchillas, blue tongue skink, rabbits, lizards, axolotls, snakes, zebra finches and more.
-Bugs-
Come learn all about how bugs help us in lots of cool ways in a 1 hour Bugs Badge Workshop! Did you know worms can help us reduce waste and make super soil for plants to grow in? Come check out our working worm farm and learn about how worms have been to space and can even sniff out diseases! Girl Scouts will have an online meet and greet with all Double J’s happy bugs. They will also learn about different patterns of butterfly wings and design their own.
Materials Needed: Color Pencils
-Farm Painting-
Get inspired to create a fabulous art project while using tools other than paint brushes. Our inhouse artist will work step by step with each scout on how to create a beautiful reverse horse or rooster painting to showcase in their home.
Materials Needed: Printer Paper, Pencil, Sharpie, Paint (any colors work), Q-tips, Picture Frame (8×10 preferred)
Optional Materials: Sponge, Feather, Stick, Cotton Ball, Toilet Paper Tube
-Home Scientist-
Participate in some incredible experiments during this one hour workshop. Scouts will learn all about the scientific method while creating different experiments with us online from home.
Materials Needed: Vinegar, Baking Soda, Corn or Spaghetti Pasta, Egg, Water, Salt
Optional Materials: Food Coloring
-Household Elf-
Learn all about how to save energy and water while making your very own goal sheet. Learn how easy and beneficial it is to compost and recycle. Make an all natural cleaner to use to clean your house.
Materials Needed: Vinegar, Water, Lemon or Orange Rind, Rosemary Sprigs, Spray Bottle or Mason Jar
Juniors:
-Animal Habitats-
Visit different animal habitats around the farm from home while learning just what each animal needs to be healthy, safe and comfortable. Learn all about animal classification and endangered species. Work together to figure out the best ways to clean up an oil spill.
Materials Needed: Bowl or Pan, Water, Oil (Any kind of cooking oil)
-Gardeners-
Have fun with plants! In this workshop we will explore the Double J garden from home, learn how worms make gardens happen, step back into history as we learn about victory gardens, and learn basic garden care. Scouts will work together to design their dream garden based on our hardiness zone.
-Flowers-
Travel on a virtual tour around Double J to learn all about different flowers throughout the farm. Learn all about the different parts of a flower and how flowers can be healers. Learn about the flower root system through a fun science experiment. Send letters to each other using the language of flowers.
-Photography-
Learn all about the history of the camera and see a variety of different cameras and lenses through this online workshop. Scouts will learn exactly how to set up a camera and helpful photography tips in order to take the best photo.
Materials Needed: Digital Camera Recommended but not Needed
Cadettes:
-Animal Helpers-
Explore the farm from home while discussing the various connections between animals and humans. Learn about how people’s feelings about certain animal species have changed over time, see amazing animal adaptations up close, learn how animals can help people emotionally and physically and make predictions about how animals can help humans in the future.
Dear Double J Friends,
We are into our third week of our social distancing/stay at home effort and we are still trying to adjust to a new way of life. We have been trying hard to keep connected by using Facebook Live, every day, in hopes of giving everyone a little bit of “Double J” love. While we’re grateful for our health and those of our staff, there are still feelings of loss associated with this isolation. We certainly miss our students, but agree that everyone’s health is the priority.
As I write this update, I have to express how blessed and grateful we are for all of the love and support from so many of our current and past customers and friends. Daily, we hear from so many people expressing how much they love Double J and what it has meant to them to be part of our community.
“We can’t thank you enough for the joy you bring to our daughter”; “Thank you for making such a difference in our daughters life”; “The community you have created for your riders is phenomenal”; “Sending positive thoughts and good wishes”.
These are just some of the personal and uplifting messages we have been receiving. To all of those people and those of you not mentioned, we appreciate you and are sincerely grateful.
Even though our doors are closed, our hard working animal caregivers are still here, making sure our animals are well fed and exercised. This presents us with an extremely challenging situation as the cost of feeding and care of our animals without income is insurmountable. In order to overcome this problem, we have come up with a few ways you can help.
Sponsorship – Double J is running a sponsorship program to help subsidize feeding all of our animals. You can choose your favorite horse, goat, sheep, chinchilla, guinea pig or other animal. Even Butters is available for sponsorship!! You will receive a sponsorship certificate, animal photos and more. Not only do these help us tremendously, but they make great gifts (for Easter or Birthday) too!! No matter how large or small your budget is, there is an animal that can be sponsored.
Sponsorship Link: https://doublejridingclubstore.square.site/s/search?q=sponsorship
Food/Scrap Drop-off – We are happy to take donations of food or food scraps of vegetables and fruits for the small animals. We have set up a large cooler by the front door of the farm house. Any food/food scraps can be dropped off in the cooler. These are used to feed the pigs, ducks, chickens, rabbits, goats, tortoises and many indoor animals.
Horse Cookies – Our horses (and even the other farm animals) love these!! If you are looking for a fun way to connect with the farm animals why not bake them some cookies. You can drop them off at the farm house in the cooler by the front door. We will then deliver them to the horses during our Facebook live sessions. If you leave a letter of who the cookies were made from, we are happy to share during the daily live session.
We’re also working hard on keeping connected with all of our customers through our Facebook Page, as I mentioned, we are doing a Facebook Live tour every day. In addition, we are now offering some great classes on Zoom. We encourage you to check those out! Beginning soon, we will also be sending out some riding e-lessons. Rest assured, we are working hard here to make sure you can stay connected, in any way we can. If you have any additional suggestions on what we could do, please reach out. We would love to hear from you.
Class Signup Link: https://doublejriding.wpengine.com/event/learning-at-home-schedule/
Hopefully this will give you some ideas on how you can help during the shutdown. Again, we are so grateful for any way you can contribute. Have a blessed Easter.
Thanks from all of us at Double J.
Wish you knew how to garden? Let a lifelong garden pro help teach you the ropes in this informal and informational class. Bring a cup of coffee and get ready to tackle your backyard problems and make the yard and garden of your dreams come into reality, without taking up much of your free time.
Hello! Butters the Barn Cat here, speaking on behalf of the Double J Riding Club, on account of the fact that no one knows more about what’s going on around here better than I do. I’m so knowledgeable about every aspect of this farm that I taught a portion of our home school equine science class last week. (BTW, it’s never too late to register for any of home school classes for a prorated tuition).
We have a fun fairy garden workshop coming up on January 25th from 10-noon. Each participant will create their own tiny world to take home (while enjoying light snacks and beverages) and finish up the event with a farm tour. Register now, spots are limited. The link to sign up is below.
Join us for horse or animal adventure camp on on President’s Day, February 17th, from 10-3 (with available before and after care). If they have half as much fun as they did in camp this Monday it will be a real hoot! We will keep your kids engaged, get them some fresh air and exercise as well as sneaking in some education. They will love it! You can find more info below.
Tiny Animal Adventure and Junior Farmer classes are learning all about nocturnal animals this week. Which is definitely me as I like to get a good 10 hour nap in during the day.
Parents’ Night Out is very popular here at the farm, but Parents’ Night Out on Valentine’s Day is BEYOND popular, so sign up now to ensure your kids get a spot. They will play games, meet the animals, make crafts, eat a great dinner and make new friends from 6-9pm. This event is perfect for ages 4-12 years old. I hear down the grapevine there is also one coming up this Friday, January 24th. Link below.
This weekend I was introduced to some new furry and not so furry friends. My friends list is getting pretty large and now I can add a snake, blue tongue skink, skinny pig, rooster, rats and water turtles to the list! Stop by one of our classes and I bet you will get to meet them! Turns out the less fur they have the sweeter they get.
That’s it for me this week, until we speak again, don’t let anyone touch your belly,
Butters the Barn Cat
Happy New Year!!!!
Butters the Barn cat here to wish all of our friends (both two and four legged) a Happy and Healthy 2020! January is a big month for us at Double J. We will mark our 20th Anniversary which for a cat is a lifetime!! Since I was not here 20 years ago, my mom sat down with me today and showed me pictures of Double J Riding Club from January 2000. Boy, have things changed!!
Looking back at these last two decades I am so purrrr-oud of what we have accomplished. This is proof that you should follow your dreams (no matter how crazy they may seem) because with hard work and the right team, great things can happen!! We have so many to thank for this success – the phenomenal people who have shared their talents teaching and working hard to create a “one of a kind” safe learning environment for animal and nature lovers, the animals who taught us how to be compassionate and kind, and the children and adults who have believed in us and took time out of their busy lives to be part of our Double J family. We truly appreciate all of your love and support and hope you can find some time to join us on our ongoing adventures in 2020.
Next week in Tiny Animal Adventures (18 months to 4 years) and Junior Farmers (3 to 6 years) we will be learning all about taking care of pets. Planned activities include making guinea pig treats, cleaning a hermit crab habitat, brushing rabbits, growing cat grass and gathering eggs from the hen house.
Tiny Animal Adventures runs Mondays and Wednesdays from 10-11 am and Junior Farmers takes place on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-10:30.
Check out our options for families that home school in 2020! We just added courses in horticulture, photography and mixed media art, as well as the existing classes in equine science, animal science and STEM science.
Hey Moms!!! Looking for a new way to tone up this year??? Did you know that horseback riding provides many benefits, mentally and physically? We have openings for private lessons for moms, during the day while the kids are at school, in January and February. It’s a great cardiovascular exercise, good for strengthening core muscles, it provides a break from the non-stop activities/things you do for other people, adds some fun and excitement, a well-deserved break from the day-to-day. Horseback riding can be exercise, viewed as self-care and can help you pass on the patience, respect and discipline you learn while riding to your kids. There’s nothing like connecting with a horse.
That’s it for me this week, keep your fur clean and grab a nap in the sun.
This is Butters, signing off!
Winter 2020 Home School Semester Information is up and we have some incredible classes to offer your children this year! Classes begin week of January 13th and run to the week of March 16th.
Double J offers a variety of Home School programs that focus on teaching children skills that nurture a reverence for life, care-taking of both animals and the environment, learning about sustainable agriculture and creating a strong sense of community. Activities are hands on, teach a variety of socially responsible and environmentally friendly lessons and provide city kids an opportunity to get down and dirty on the farm.
Programs run Fall – Spring and are open to children from Kindergarten-12th grade
Class options:
Tiny Animal Adventures – Ages 18mo- 4yrs
Junior Farmers – Ages 3-6 yrs
Equine Science – Ages 7-14 yrs
Animal Science: Habitats – Ages 6-10 yrs
STEM Science (Chemistry & Genetics/Evolution) – Ages 10-15 yrs
Horticulture – Ages 7-14 yrs
Introduction to Digital Photography – Ages 8-18 yrs
Mixed Media Art- Ages 8-18 yrs
