There’s always a first time for everything even for me — and that includes a Farm Tour!

We ended our hectic April by participating in the 17th annual Piedmont Farm Tour of North Carolina.  Apparently there are about 40 farms in our area and every year the Farm Stewardship Association sets aside a weekend where people can load up a car full of folks and visit as many farms as their afternoons will allow them.  Every carload costs $25 for the entire weekend, and the farms offer various attractions from feeding animals, sheep-shearing, to organic fruits and vegetables, and to cows and cheese.

In our van-load of adults and children, we were only able to go to two farms last Sunday afternoon.  We picked Spence’s Educational Farm and the Chapel Hill Creamery, the next closest farm in the area (We only had 4 hours so we had to plan ahead).

We’ve heard a lot of good things about Spence’s Farm and how it is very child-friendly.  Sam got to feed the chickens and touch the horses.  There were also a lot of hand washing stations set up with antibacterial soap mixed into one bin, and the volunteers on the farm were very encouraging about the kids washing their hands frequently.  Jamie was totally enamored with all the live animals and did not want to nurse or nap.  It was as if all the pictures in her book had come to life and she didn’t want to miss any part of it!

The fee per car also came with one free pony-ride for each child.  If only for that, I’d say the farm tour was worth it because Sam was beyond excited about riding a pony for the first time.  She wore the helmet, and sat still in the saddle while the girl led the horse around the ring.  My husband followed in close proximity to take pictures and also as a precautionary measure in case she wiggled and slipped off.  It wasn’t necessary though, because Sam held her own on that pony!

Our second farm was the Chapel Hill Creamery, known for producing cheeses and sausages.  The first thing that they make you do when you register is to sanitize your feet.  All their fences are electrically wired to keep a good distance from the cows.  Even during the tour when they explained the operations of their business, everything felt very thought through and very sanitary.  They had one comfort room open to the public and it was surprisingly very clean too!  I learned later on that the farm is run by 10 women (and one man).  Everything made a little bit more sense after that. 😉

Even their operations are very pointed.  They have only one kind of cow on their farm — the Jersey cows, whom they milk 2x a day.  Each cow can produce at least 14 gallons of milk, and all of that is used to make cheese.  That’s a whole lotta cheese wouldn’t you say?!  Apparently they only keep the females on the farm, and all the males are herded off onto a different farm for meat.  Now that’s what you call girl power!

The highlight of the Creamery for Sam was a horse-drawn carriage hayride on the way in, and the tractor ride back out.   She did enjoy seeing the baby calves resting outside the milking parlor and reading about how they make cheese.  Other than that, all the information must have flown above her head.  I on the other hand, took one look at the milking parlor and thought to myself, “It’s one huge breast pumping facility!”

It was an incredibly hot day to be out on the farms and so on the way home we stopped for ice cream.  The girls were completely exhausted though but they both had a good time.  I’m glad we took the opportunity to go on a farm tour in the first place.  I realized that I’d never really ever been on an actual working farm (ever!) so it was a good experience for me too.  There’s always something to be learned from chicken and cows after all.

I’ve said it before with the Marbles Museum and the Touch-a-Truck event:  I love how interactive and hands-on the learning is nowadays.  For the children most especially, these are experiences they can commit to memory and speak about when they learn about it in school (If at all).  Some of the  the information one gets from educational tours such as these may not be found in books.  And sometimes those are the more crucial bits of information that will help you in life.

It’s a constant reminder for me to be open to these activities and to expose the girls to them when I can.  After all what have we got to lose? 🙂