The other day we stopped by a friends farm to pick up some eggs and drop off some kefir grains. When we arrived, she asked the boys if they wanted to see something. Who could refuse?
We walked to a tree and saw that it was tapped, with a bucket full of sap! It was syruping time! The boys excitedly ran around looking at the few trees that had buckets and checking out the equipment as she told them about her setup, and then we walked to her campfire with a huge cauldron of bubbling sap on top.
The boys got to help her as she filtered the buckets from the trees and then helped haul the wagon with the fresh sap to the fire - watching as she added more sap to the pot. It was nice to just stand in the warm sun, listening to the bubbling liquid and crackling fire. Of course once the boys were outside on a farm, which is just about their most favorite thing on the planet, they had to do some animal visiting.
We visited some pregnant goats, chatted with sheep, pet the dog & cats, watched some beautiful turkeys puff and spin, and of course, saw the chickens. A loves chickens. I mean LOVES them. He spends most of his time at any farm with a chicken tucked under an arm (or each arm), as he happily walks around stroking it and chatting away. He.loves.chickens.
G got a little chicken snuggle in too, before we left, while A climbed a cliff and watched some hens take a dust bath. After a while we were off. Happy dirty boys full of sunshine, fresh air, and a little bit of chicken.
What a great time! And all that beautiful sunshine :)
ReplyDeleteMaddie was just asking about a farm visit. It's been like a month, after all! :)
ReplyDeleteOurs belongs to the Historic Society, and not a friend, but it's a wonderful place.
One of our favorite places to go and play.
Your boys are darling with those chickens! :) And that's so cute that he has a mad love affair with them.
Happy Spring!
Oh ...that looks like a fun visit!
ReplyDeleteWe tried tapping one little tree this year- sure enough we got sap! Next year we're going to tap the bigger ones (better get our buckets and taps now before we forget). After boiling the sap down all we got was a tiny taste each of the syrup. It was yummy!
I keep thinking that I'd like to keep chickens but since we travel fairly frequently to visit family I just don't see how.
Yeah for Spring!
Sounds like a great field trip.
ReplyDeletewow! what a wonderful time!! my boys envy your boys. j said, "awww! it's just like Little House on the Prairie!" re: the sapping.
ReplyDeleteHow serendipitous! We just got back from visiting our friends farm, where she had her maples tapped! My DD(5) got to collect warm eggs from the chickens and sap from the trees! It was a little slice of heaven. I love that you and your kids love those farm visits too :)
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