Now why would we go to a pumpkin patch and NOT get a pumpkin?

Recently we made the trip to the “pumpkin patch” at Gull Meadow Farms. We didn’t go for pumpkins, oh no, we went for the fun. We had been last year and our oldest had been asking to go again. Now normally we couldn’t afford the prices for the whole family to go do all the activities they offer, but we of course found a deal, so off we went.

Now they offer pumpkins for sale, but no, my son blew right by them. When I asked if he wanted to go on a wagon ride, he firmly said “no thank you.” When I suggested we visit the animals, again it was no. So what was it we were there for? Pumpkin Lane! A magical wonderland of activities that my son just HAD to do.

He did the zip line (a FEW times), he bounced his brain out, and he went down the "apple chute" slide. He navigated the obstacle course and he tried a maze (which I had to go in and get him out because he was hopelessly stuck, as were most of the adults.)

But the real reason he wanted to go, his mission for being there, were the duck races. I don't know what about it brings him such joy or how he could stand there so long doing it, but he LOVED it. All it is, is a hand pump that shoots water into a trough and the ducks ride the water to the other end. The kid at the other end transfers them to their trough, pumps water, and sends them back. That's it, but the kids all love doing it!

 

He begged me to build him one at home and you know what, it doesn't look that hard to make, and it would keep him busy for hours, but sadly I don't have a hand pump or know where to get one cheap. Hmmm, I think I know what I am going to be hunting for this winter! 

 

 

Fall means Harvest Festivals!

Around these parts, Fall means Harvest Festivals. We go every year to the annual Harvest Festival at the Calhoun County Fairgrounds in Marshall, MI. This free event on Oct. 13th runs from 10am to 5pm. We of course have to take a wagon ride and wander around visiting all the booths. There are also competitions for the best homemade chili, meatloaf, pumpkin pie and fruit pit. And this year they say there are going to be horse pulls and chuck wagon races! I'm excited!! If you don't leave nearby, don't fear, I am sure with a little googling you can find a Harvest Festival near you!

Shear Fashion - poor sheep

This past week was our local county fair. As a child I showed livestock and other things at a fair and this year my oldest son is showing at his first fair! On one of our trips (he gets in free as an exhibitor, so we went a lot) we strolled through the sheep barn. My youngest son, who is six months old had never seen a sheep up close and personal before and I thought it would be fun.

It was more fun then I could have imagined. Not because of my youngest response to seeing sheep, but because of the sheep and their, umm, couture! Yes, I mean those sheep had on clothes. After spotting the first sheep, my oldest son said “mom, check out that one in camo!” Ummmm, yup, sure enough, there was another sheep wearing clothes. In fact there were quite a few sheep in clothes.

As one of the young exhibitors told me when I asked about the high fashion, the sheep had just been sheared and bathed and the outfits were put on to help keep them warm. May I just point out it is AUGUST. I doubt they would freeze. Upon further investigation we learned it was to keep them CLEAN. Now that made more sense.

Now I will admit, some of these sheep look good. My favorite would have to be the shiny blue spandex. But some of these poor sheep, like the green strips and I paisley…. poor sheep. You know the other sheep were picking on them! We had a great time at the "fashion show" making up stories all about the fancy sheep.

Here is the gallery of get-ups we saw..... (hope you have a good giggle like we did!)

Famous cartoon poultry

Since it is National Poultry Day, it got me wondering.... Who are some of the famous birds out there in cartoon land??? So far I have come up with:

Foghorn leghorn

Donald and Daisy Duck (and extended family)

Daffy Duck

Chicken little

Dinky duck

Gandy goose

Can you think of anyone else?!?!?!

Handy Chicken craft

These are super easy and fun to make! Each "chicken" needs:

1 piece of yellow construction paper (folded in half)
1 piece of orange construction paper (folded in half)
1 paper plate
2 wiggly eyes
glue
scissors
pencil

On the fold construction paper, trace the out line of your hand. Cut these out and use the yellow for wings and orange for feet. Use left over orange paper to make a beak. Then get gluing!!!

Chicken Jokes

What child doesn't enjoy telling a joke (even if sometimes it makes no sense or just isn't funny)!?!?! Well here are a few chicken jokes for your little ones to learn and these are actually cute!

How does a chicken mail a letter to her friend?
(In a HEN-velope!)

Did you hear the joke about the broken egg?
(Yes, it cracked me up!)

How do chickens bake a cake?
(From scratch!)

What does a mixed-up hen lay?
(Scrambled eggs!)

What does an evil hen lay?
(Deviled eggs!)

Where do tough chickens come from?
(Hard-boiled eggs!)

What do you call it when it rains chickens and ducks?
(Foul weather!)

Chicken fun facts

I thought we would share a few fun facts about chickens you may or may not know..... For example, like the sign in the photo states, it takes about 21 days for an egg to hatch!

Here are a few more interesting and maybe odd facts for you:

1. There are more chickens on earth than there are people, over three billion in china alone.
2. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken began in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago.
3. A chicken's heart beats at an amazing 280-315 beats a minute.
4. Chickens can run at a speed of 9 mph.
5. Chickens are the closest living relative of the tyrannosaur.

Today (3/19) is National Poultry Day

Today is going to be a most egg-cellent day! I have lot of fun poultry related things to share with you. Makes sure you have your scrambled eggs and get ready to do the chicken dance. Stop over and visit our friends at Fresh Eggs Daily to get in on even more poultry fun. Cock-a-doodle-do, rise and shine and let’s have a fun old time!!!

How a chicken hatches from an egg

I love sharing things with my children that I think will peak their interests and possible teach them something. As most of you know, our oldest son has a couple chickens we raised from babies last spring. This year he is joining 4-H as a clover bud and will be taking a chicken to the fair. We are so excited for him. He really does love chickens.

He knows chickens come from eggs, but I am sure ANY time now the questions are going to start as to how that chicken grew in there. Well thank goodness for our friends over at Fresh Eggs Daily on Facebook!! They have a blog and started a new project that we will be following closely to get some of these answers. It is the The Great Egg-scape. They are hatching eggs in an incubator and you can follow along on the great adventure.

Like today I learned that on day 6 of incubation wings and legs of each embryo are almost complete!! How cool is that!!!

from Fresh Eggs Daily

Perky Paper Plate Pig

It is National Pig Day, so why not make your own little oinker! Break out the paper plates and your pink crayons and get going!

It is world egg day, who knew!

Ahh the incredible edible egg. Who knew it had its own day! Why not have breakfast for dinner tonight with some yummy eggs.

National Alpaca Farm Day, September 24-25

Click the Alpaca above to find a farm near you!



The Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association is excited to present National Alpaca Farm Days September 24-25, 2011.

They hope you will have the opportunity to visit a farm to learn about alpacas. Every farm has their unique style of welcoming and educating visitors. You won’t want to miss this experience!

Our Fair Fun

Summer is here and that means county fairs! We live near a few counties so we go to a lot of fairs. Today was the first of the summer and it was "Toddler Day" which meant all children 6 and under and parents got in FREE. Not a bad way to start the day. Of course we had to visit with all the animals first.

We did a few extra fun things like ride a camel. I mean come on $5 for a pony ride or $5 for a camel ride, it's a no brainer!

We also visited a free exhibit on being a veterinarian. Here my son got to perform "surgery" on a toy bunny with tummy pains. He loves it. That little blue sponge on the table is a lung!


And then there were the rides! For a $5 dollar wristband, the children could ride all the kiddy rides they wanted for 2 hours. Now my son is a bit of, well, he doesn't go for the fast and scary rides. That being said, I had to force him on the ride in the video. Some times as a parent you have to push a little. He was surprised he liked the ride (which I knew he would. ) In fact he liked it so much he went again!

So for $10 we had a wonderful adventure at the fair. I did have a flat tire when we left but since that turned into it's own adventure, well the cost of the new tire will not be held against the fair outing!

Summer means FAIRS

Rides, corn dogs, cotton candy! It summer and that means county fairs! And you can get deals on the county fair too! Like today, for us, it is "toddler day" which means 5 and under are FREE. For the kiddy rides from 12-2pm you can get a ride wristband for $5. Not to mention all the special activities for kids today including bike give-a-ways!

Why not check out your county fair. Make sure you look for special days and coupons!

Chickens are pets too!?!?

Okay, yes, we might be a bit strange having chickens for pets but look at the joy on his face! He LOVES chickens and he has done a great job taking care of them. And as an added bonus, we will be getting fresh eggs sometime soon! I think it is important for children to have the responsibility of a pet, even if it is a chicken. Our chicks have grow so much in the last few month. *sniff* Look at me getting all sentimental! Here our our "babies" now:

Story Time in the Park was Moo-velous (I know that was a bad one!)

During the song "Old McDonald had a farm" David got to be the sheep!

We had another fun day at Story Time in the Park this week. Besides the wonderful songs and stories (thanks library ladies) there were farm animals!!!

Donyaellie Wheaton from Wheaton Farms brought lots of different critters for the children to see and pet. She did this on behalf of the local Farm Bureau Promotion and Education. The Farm Bureau Promotion and Education Site has more information to share with children including these fun games.

While most of the children were interested in the sheep and cows, my little man was in love with the chickens and their farm dog “Dora the wonder pup.” Thank you to Donyaellie and all her helpers!

Another big thanks goes out to Chris and Kris Langmaach from Langmaach Diary who were there on behalf of the Michigan Milk Producers. They gave all the kids FREE ICE CREAM! It was very hot out and the ice cream was a welcome relief.

What a great FREE event this was. If you didn't make it out this week, remember there is always next Tuesday. Don't live around here? Then check your local library for some summer fun!

FREE Garden Guide for kids

We love to garden here at MAD, it is a family activity. I think kids should know where their food comes from and there is no better way to learn then by being hands on. I found this very neat Garden Guide for kids that is packed with information, games, activities and more. It is only 10 pages, and at least for me, well worth the ink to print out. Even if you don't print it off, you can do a lot of the activities like trying to find a worms neck!!! (yes they do have one!)

Free events are awsome!

THANK YOU TIRRELL FARMSTEAD!!!

What is fun? The "Spring Fling" at Tirrell Farmstead!! We headed out there today for their event and had an awesome time! As we arrived they were shearing a sheep. They let all the little ones (and us kids at heart) come up and pet the sheep and feel the wool.

Check out a sheep getting sheared!

We also got to watch them milk the sheep. All the kids got to try putting their finger in the milker to feel the suction! Tirrell Farmstead takes the sheep's milk and makes their own cheese!!! They make it right on site and have a cute little store where they sell not only the cheese, but soaps, meat, eggs, crafts, and more!

They also had a game of cheese rolling going on! David got 10 ft, Mom got 48 ish feet and Dad is the "Cheese Chuckin Champ" of this family at about 55 feet. Yeah Dad!! Best of all it was real cheese so our hands smelled yummy after playing!

There was a petting zoo and David made a new friend. The Eaton County Farm Bureau had radish and corn seeds for the kids to plant and take home and there was the wonderful surprise of a FREE lunch! I'm sorry but nothing beats a beautiful spring day, eating grilled burgers and dogs while siting on a hay bale listening to sheep.

Davd and his new little friend

 

Planting seeds

The wonderful folks who served up a yummy lunch

Chicks and bunnies

You know when spring is coming because ever TSC store and feed mill has baby chicks for sale. Tonight we took our son over to TSC to "visit" the animals. They had a variety of baby chickens, some ducks and even some baby bunnies. Our son totally LOVED getting to see and pet them. The staff was very nice and it was FREE.

We did not bring anybody home, though I would have loved too. We tried the chick thing last summer and well, our dog ate them. :( He couldn't jump up on the couch but he managed to jump the fence. So for now, we just visit and love on the animals at the store. So if you're out and about with your family and see a TSC store, swing in and check out the wildlife! LOL

In loving memory of Peep and Tweet,

you were wonderful friends.

A sappy adventure continues..........

So we decided that this year, we were going to try and make some maple syrup. Okay, now I know what your thinking, are they nuts, LOL, umm maybe! I figured I would share our little adventure with you, not necessarily encouraging you to go tap a tree, but to realize you can have fun doing just about anything! Maybe a family garden this summer or putting together a fish aquarium. You can learn and have fun as a family doing just about anything.

So here is the start of our adventure.....

Soft but firm pipe cut to make taps, pop bottles and milk jugs hung with coat hanger wire to collect, and a 5 gallon bucket to dump it all in. That is all it took to get started! In 1 day we got over 2 gallons of sap!

We combined our sap with a friend's and boiled it down. Did you know it takes 40 gallons of sap for 1 gallon of syrup!



And here is the first of our finished syrup! It is so yummy. Our french toast was amazing! The trees are flowing and to date we have collected around 30 gallons of sap!