Dairy Farm Field Trip

Yesterday the boys and I joined our Mommy & Me group for a tour of a local dairy farm. The weather was beautiful and it ended up being a perfect day for this type of event.

We started our tour out by sitting on hay bails and learning about what cows eat, how they feed the babies, etc. Then we went on a hay-ride around the dairy.

The next part of our trip was going to the petting zoo area to feed and touch the animals.

Deklan spent all but 45 minutes of our day in the stroller and was perfectly content to sit back and watch the animals and kids.

At the end of our tour we sat down at picnic tables and ate the lunch that we brought. We also had ice cream that was made right at the farm. Grafton had Cotton Candy flavored ice cream and Deklan and I shared Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream. It was delicious!

After lunch everyone but us and one other family left. We ended up staying for another hour so that Grafton & his friend could pet and feed the animals without all of the other kids in his way.

It was a wonderful day!

Peachy Keen

Seeing that we are currently in the midst of peach season, our family met up with three other families at a local farm to go peach picking.  Before we set out on our peach picking adventure, we stopped by the petting zoo.

To get to the orchard we went on a hay ride. My sister and her lovely family sat across from us.
Before leaving for the farm, Grafton told me, "Mom, I want to pick some peaches for you."  I'm glad he was able to do just that!

Where's Grafton?  

(Hint: Look in the bottom right corner.)

  He's not always in the mood to have his picture taken.

I am currently the only one in our house who likes to eat peaches. Deklan likes peach baby food, so hopefully he'll eat them with me next year.  However, Vince and Grafton like the taste but cannot stand the texture.  As a result, this is my plan for our peaches: peach cobbler, peach smoothies, and I'll eat some the way they are.

My mouth is watering already!

Earth Day at the Farm

To celebrate Earth Day, Grafton and I met up with a Mommy & Me group to spend a few hours at a farm and enjoy Mother Nature.  

When we first arrived we waited at the entrance for all of the moms and toddlers to show up. There just happened to be a gum-ball machine at the entrance too.  Grafton begged and begged for a gum-ball, but it was way to big for his mouth and they looked like they'd been sitting in that machine for a very long time.

Here's a picture of Grafton's face while he was begging for gum.

Once everyone got there we loaded onto a wagon and set out to tour the farm. The weather was unseasonably warm, so our ride got quite toasty! Our first stop was to feed the animals and Grafton was able to feed a cow and some goats.  While he was feeding them he kept saying, "Mom, this is great!"

 

Next, the kids went through a little maze. Grafton hadn't went very far and he asked me to join him. You would think since I am much taller and can see the entire thing I could have gotten us out easily.  Not so, we ended up taking a little "shortcut" through a couple of the hay barrels.

Here we are proud to have finished the maze!

Our next stop was the chicken coup where the kids fed the chickens and collected their eggs.

I think Grafton found the most eggs of all the kids. It must have been because of all of the egg hunting he did at Easter.

Once all of our farm work was done, we sat down in the shade and a had wonderful picnic lunch. Afterwards, the kids ran around and collected pine cones and played in some play houses on the property, while the mom's sat at the picnic tables and visited.

On our way out, we purchased a tomato plant and we were also given some sunflower seeds to plant.  I don't exactly have a green thumb, but Grafton and I are going to try our best to grow them.  If we're successful, I'm sure you'll be reading about it soon!

A Day at the Farm

This Saturday, March 7th, was Agricultural Day.  To celebrate, a local dairy farm hosted an event for families to enjoy while also learning about agriculture.  Our family was able to get in by donating 6 cans of fruits and vegetables that will go to a local food bank.

We spent the day with my sister and her family, and one of our first stops was a hay ride around the dairy.  

The best part of our hay ride was watching a calf that had been born just hours earlier.  If you look to the right of Grafton's hand, you can see it laying on the ground. The calf was trying to stand up, but never made it up on all four legs while we were there.

After the hay ride, Grafton and his cousins were able pet these chicks.  You can take one home for $7 and we were told they make great backyard pets. I had to say "Thanks, but no thanks".

Grafton really enjoyed watching the cows, but was a little intimated and kept his distance. He's staring at them in the picture below.

This is how Deklan spent the majority of his day at the farm.  He was perfectly happy to ride around in his stroller and relax.

We took a few minutes to stop at this tractor and ran into some friends of ours.  Their little boy was able to join my boys in a picture.

We spent a good part of our day stopping at the various booths that were set up.  Each one had an activity for kids that was also educating them about agriculture.  Here's just a few of those...

Planting Seeds

Planting Cotton

Studying Strawberry DNA

Making Bracelets (Each bead represented a different part of planting)

This is my sister, Rachel, her husband, Tony, and their boys Levi and Drew.  We have a lot of fun with them and really enjoy raising our kids together. 

Whenever we see a milk truck on the road Grafton always gets very excited.  This is the first time he's been able to get right up to one.

The rest of our day was spent standing in line for lunch and then finally eating it.  Rachel and I waited with Deklan while Vince & Tony took the older boys to the petting zoo.  

I am very glad the weather was so nice (it was 70 degrees and sunny) because we were in line for 1 hour and 10 minutes!  Lunch was catered by a local restaurant, and consisted of a pulled-pork or beef sandwich, beans, cole-slaw, carrot sticks, a boiled egg, honey stick, cookie, and chocolate or white milk.  The best part was it only cost $1.00!  I think it was well-worth the long wait in line.

We will definitely be going back next year for Agricultural Day!