Today was chicken day at a friends farm. While there, the boys were able to run and play, visit the laying chickens and ducks (and experience their first broody hens!), see the pigs, and chat with the cows over a neighbors fence. They love it there - they can run and play and roam and breathe and see the animals and would spend all day in the hen house if they could! It was even more fun because a friend was there at the same time we were - three boys, three times the fun.
After awhile we went next door to the organic farm for a farm tour. The farm is on beautiful land surrounded by rolling hills, prairie and lots of trees. The farmer took us for a tour of the different beds and hoop houses, letting the boys pick some strawberries on their way by. We then walked up the hill to see everything from asparagus and rhubarb to tomatoes, broccoli, snap peas, beets and kohlrabi.
I am always amazed at how much food can be produced in so little space and how healthy and natural organic farms feel. I love walking through fields and down rows and smelling the earth and seeing so much life and growth. We all had a nice time being out walking around the farm and learning about the processes used there.
On the way back down, the farmer said he had a surprise for the boys, and zipped down the hill as we waited. He had turned on the well pump for the irrigation system (usually needed only a few times each season), and the boys knelt down to feel the coldness enter the pipes along the ground, and then we watched as the sprinklers slowly pressurized and began to spray. It was just starting to get really hot, so the cool mist felt great. Well, it did to the adults. The boys, funny enough, went very close to see the water, so when the lines pressurized and the water burst out, the mist covered them. You would think that a giant misty sprinkler on a hot day would be a blast, but those little guys ran at breakneck speed all the way back to us, the three year old making a face the whole way! Funny!
We all walked back to the cars, and the boys played some more as we all chatted. We picked up a huge bag of fresh herbs to go with the chicken - so much that I put some in the dehydrator tonight to dry. The whole house is filled with the smell of drying herbs. Mmmm. A great end to a nice day!
12 comments:
fantastic farm day...the photos are lovely...i look forward to living near an organic farm...i love that your boys' could live in the hen house...too cute!
how were the 'squitoes? i have been thinking about you...we have good days and bum days...where i swear they could carry us away.
I'm gald to hear everything is still growing after all of that weather!
We went and picked up our chickens today from a friend's farm after them being there for 6 weeks, I think, when we were trying to move. And we too have things in the dehydrator.
The farm looks very quaint. I love the stone outbuilding. The little guys running from the sprinkler is pretty funny, too.
The pictures and the descriptions of the farm were beautiful. It looks like your boys had so much fun. I live in an area with lots of pretty orchards but you really wouldn't want to walk through most of them because they get sprayed heavily.
So Beautiful!!! We don't have lush green farmland like that here.
I love your little ones face as he's walking through the strawberries......he seems so serious and innocent, like he is just absorbing all of his new life on earth......I hope he can keep that part of himself pure for many more years to come!
Really gorgeous photos!!!!
I keep getting reminded how everything is so green in the midwest--especially this year!
It looked like a great day at the farm. Here you would need far more acres and a greenhouse to achieve the same abundance.
What Fun! We had a farm tour here on Sunday, not too many kids showed up. My daughter had all kinds of fun activities ready for them, oh well.
Looks like a great day. The photos of the boys running from the sprinkler is too funny!
Beautiful farm, the chickens are very cute!!! And I love the photo of the boys running from the sprinkler. they both have the same knee raised, looks like they were keeping time with each other!:) Very funny shot! I know those sprinklers are very powerful and make a scary noise, it's no wonder they took off!!
Your farm visit posts always make me nostalgic for the days when we lived on a little farm. I see it happening again in our future. I've spent most of my life living in a rural environment, and I'd like to keep it that way!
Awesome photos, sounds like a wonderful day.
wow cool a day at the farm sounds wonderful
Jen
Thanks everyone.:)
Tiff - mosquitoes are HORRIBLE!! The farm visit was mostly in the sun and windy though, so we were not swarmed until we hit the shady lawn on the way back to the car! :)
Lizz- Some farms are doing well, some are still underwater. Actually, driving to this farm we went through spots where the water was literally touching the outer lines of the road on both sides. LAKES instead of fields. THis farm is hilly-so escaped most of the bad stuff.
Lisa Anne - We would have loved a tour of your farm. :) I am sure I wouldn't have been able to get the boys to leave!!!
Jodi - I saw photos of one farm where you used to live (from your drive a few weeks back)...SO beautiful. I look forward to having some acreage and living more rurally.
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