I think the quote for today has to be one that came directly from the mouth of an angelic little 5 year old precariously balancing on one leg and thoughtfully scratching his ear at the same time….”I’m SO hungry I could eat THAT horse right now”. Sadly, the horse that he was salivating over was Lady lump, over a ton of horse steak on the hoof contentedly mowing the pasture and happily unaware that she was on the menu by default…I guess that was the moment I suggested that maybe it was lunchtime and prayed that his lunch was good !!!
Curious by Nature, a Gig Harbor pre school and kindergarten had come to visit the farm. The sun was shining and 20 very excited and extremely animated little children were ricocheting from fence line to fence line on route to the barn. Little butts struggled to stay seated on the hay bales and distracted attention spans were evident as our tiny audience listened to a reading of my book. From the cow barn, Daisy Mae bellowed, the sheep bawled impatiently in the sheep pen and Bran the border collie, with an oversized branch in his mouth tried desperately to find someone/anyone to play fetch. Two groups were magically created by an extremely good and efficient team of teachers and parents…. Greg got the cow/sheep team, I got the rest and, followed by my little band we headed towards the chicken pen where our unsuspecting little flock, happily clucking and mud bathing in the early morning sun had no idea of how their morning was about to change. As I opened the yard gate, little feathered heads checked us out, big smiles spread over the children’s faces and little fingers reached into the chicken grain bucket to feed the birds…”.No Tommy….throw it to them…NOT at them…that’s good….ALICE !! don’t chase the chickens or the rooster will chase you….oh….that IS the rooster…RUN !!” From the pen we gravitated into the chicken house to see if we could find an egg in the nest boxes. We did….little eyes opened wide as egg after egg was “found”. “Please leave the eggs in the nest box “…..too late !!!…”Oh….gosh you are clever….I can’t manage SIX eggs at one time, can we see if we can put them back without scrambled eggs. Gulp !! We moved on to visit a very appreciative Rodney the ram who is currently in the rut and exuding musky odorous fumes. Rodney is currently leading a celibate life as his ladies recover from Spring lambing and he is happy to have a diversion from watching his harem from a distance. The ram happily inhaled carrot morsels and his little visitors giggled and squealed in excitement until even Rodney’s insatiable appetite was exhausted. Our next victims were the tiny turkeys hatchlings, we checked them out as they peeped at us from inside the safety of cage bars , we checked out the turkey eggs in the incubator and paid a visit to the Soay Rams Galveston and Blondie who have recently discovered the benefits of people (in particular the bread people always seem to carry with them). We had a tractor/trailer hay ride….”go FASTER !!!” eeek !!! We paid a visit to the giant Shire horses who always love to entertain little guests and two happy horses hung their heads over the gate with little fingers perilously close to disappearing along with the carrots ! “NO….fingers flat…uuuh….Tim, it’s not a good idea to offer him your elbow for dinner !” Back onto the trailer ride, perched on giant hay bales and more happy excited giggles heading back to the farm for a picnic lunch in the shade of a peach tree in the orchard. It was a great morning and we had a lot of fun, we collapsed in a heap as the last waving child left and we LOVED IT. Thank you Curious By Nature School for coming to visit, we look forward to seeing you again.
I’m timed out, enjoy the photographs. Take care, keep safe. M
Curious by Nature, a Gig Harbor pre school and kindergarten had come to visit the farm. The sun was shining and 20 very excited and extremely animated little children were ricocheting from fence line to fence line on route to the barn. Little butts struggled to stay seated on the hay bales and distracted attention spans were evident as our tiny audience listened to a reading of my book. From the cow barn, Daisy Mae bellowed, the sheep bawled impatiently in the sheep pen and Bran the border collie, with an oversized branch in his mouth tried desperately to find someone/anyone to play fetch. Two groups were magically created by an extremely good and efficient team of teachers and parents…. Greg got the cow/sheep team, I got the rest and, followed by my little band we headed towards the chicken pen where our unsuspecting little flock, happily clucking and mud bathing in the early morning sun had no idea of how their morning was about to change. As I opened the yard gate, little feathered heads checked us out, big smiles spread over the children’s faces and little fingers reached into the chicken grain bucket to feed the birds…”.No Tommy….throw it to them…NOT at them…that’s good….ALICE !! don’t chase the chickens or the rooster will chase you….oh….that IS the rooster…RUN !!” From the pen we gravitated into the chicken house to see if we could find an egg in the nest boxes. We did….little eyes opened wide as egg after egg was “found”. “Please leave the eggs in the nest box “…..too late !!!…”Oh….gosh you are clever….I can’t manage SIX eggs at one time, can we see if we can put them back without scrambled eggs. Gulp !! We moved on to visit a very appreciative Rodney the ram who is currently in the rut and exuding musky odorous fumes. Rodney is currently leading a celibate life as his ladies recover from Spring lambing and he is happy to have a diversion from watching his harem from a distance. The ram happily inhaled carrot morsels and his little visitors giggled and squealed in excitement until even Rodney’s insatiable appetite was exhausted. Our next victims were the tiny turkeys hatchlings, we checked them out as they peeped at us from inside the safety of cage bars , we checked out the turkey eggs in the incubator and paid a visit to the Soay Rams Galveston and Blondie who have recently discovered the benefits of people (in particular the bread people always seem to carry with them). We had a tractor/trailer hay ride….”go FASTER !!!” eeek !!! We paid a visit to the giant Shire horses who always love to entertain little guests and two happy horses hung their heads over the gate with little fingers perilously close to disappearing along with the carrots ! “NO….fingers flat…uuuh….Tim, it’s not a good idea to offer him your elbow for dinner !” Back onto the trailer ride, perched on giant hay bales and more happy excited giggles heading back to the farm for a picnic lunch in the shade of a peach tree in the orchard. It was a great morning and we had a lot of fun, we collapsed in a heap as the last waving child left and we LOVED IT. Thank you Curious By Nature School for coming to visit, we look forward to seeing you again.
I’m timed out, enjoy the photographs. Take care, keep safe. M
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