Farm Day.

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!