A day on the farm

It was all excitement as I went with the children of my grandson's kindergarten and first grade class to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch. It is really a working farm, but during the fall they host children, and some adults for an educational tour of their rural farm. They give the children a taste of what life on a farm is like from late September until the middle of November.

I think most kids in our county go to Uncle Bob's at one time or another. Some of the mothers who were chaperoning had been there a number of times. I was a bit surprised and it was also a surprise that so many kids were there. It was a very busy place. 

It was a new experience for both my grandson and I and it all began with a hayride around the farm. At one point we stopped and the tractor driver encouraged all of the kids to throw hay for some of the nearby horses to eat. Our enthusiastic group wasted no time in dumping out hay.

The horses backed away from us and stood about 30 feet away while the kids threw hay. I am wondering if some of the children who had thrown hay before were a little too enthusiastic. After we pull away to resume our hayride the horses decided to come back and check out the fresh hay. Luckily we still had hay left in our wagon.

We were able to pet some of the animals and there were quite a few -- sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits, a pig, peacocks, turkeys, ducks and probably a few I didn't see.

Then all the kids got to see baby chickens under the lights that were keeping them warm as they grew.

Uncle Bob's wife and our hostess demonstrated how to spin hair into thread. The hair was from sheep, goats and rabbits. She also told us how she dyes her wool using ammonia and copper.

We walked through the corn maze.

 And we heard a Halloween story.

 We saw an observation bee hive and heard how they extract the honey the bees make.

And saw a video about bats.

Before we left, we saw a how a potter uses clay to make pottery ...

and bricks.

The last thing we did was pick out a little pumpkin (I think it was actually a gourd) to take home. We had a great time and I know most of the kids in the kindergartens and elementary schools in our area really enjoy this fall event every year. If you haven't been I think it is really worth it. They have special events on weekends, too.