The Little Farm

On Friday we went up to The Little Farm with Tommy and Justine (and Chris and Amanda, visiting from LA), and Roxanne. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Tommy and Justine, but I'm pretty sure their folks took some amazing pictures of them (they usually do!).

Everyone enjoyed feeding celery and lettuce to the animals, and the weather was a little chilly but really nice. Roxanne also got lots of use out of her Nintendo DS, which made me feel old and out of touch because all I can think of a Nintendo as is a game player. Which I guess this still is, but it's much more than the simple games I remember. She took loads of pictures and had a fun program on there that could record things (like her saying someone's name) and play it backwards, higher, lower, faster, slower, etc.

Little Farm

We met up with Clara's classmate, Danny, at the Little Farm today. It was fun to find Prima (from our past goat-milking share) and feed her some celery. Clara quickly grew tired of feeding the celery to the animals and just wanted to have Molly & Danny feed the celery to her. Last night we got the sad news that the director of their preschool died unexpectedly, so it was nice to be with another preschool family. 

Little Farmers

On Saturday we enjoyed doing chores on The Little Farm. They had a lovely setup for young kids around Molly's age to help feed the animals and get the farm set for the day. Clara was even able to join in a bit, too! It was also cool that the kids got to go inside some of the animal pens, which are usually off-limits for visitors. And they got to feed them something other than the celery, which is the only thing visitors are allowed to feed the animals on The Little Farm.

The girls really enjoyed it, too. I underestimated Clara's interest and ability to be involved and initially we didn't have her be part of the group. But she was totally focused the entire time and followed every instruction as best she could. Molly did her typical quiet concentration - never cracking a smile or showing any easily recognizable sign that she was interested (except for the fact that she did exactly what farmer Hazel said and was the first to quietly volunteer to do everything). When we were done Molly was thrilled to learn that they do this every month!

Photos:
1. Molly & Clara contemplating the celery; 2. Clara & Molly listening carefully to goat-feeding instructions; 3. Clara (in blue) watching the birds enjoy their fresh water (see 8 & 9, below); 4. Clara keeping an eye on the geese; 5. Clara & Molly contemplating the freshly bedded calf stall; 6. Molly (in purple) and other little farmers getting ready to feed the goats (no pictures of the actual goat feeding - for the goats the kids went into the pen and put the hay into the mangers. It was a little hairy since the goats were hungry and the mangers were in ankle deep muck. Good thing the girls have good boots); 7. Zach assisting Molly with the sheep feeding (the only instruction here was to try not to get the hay on the sheep's heads); 8. Molly hosing poop off the duck deck with some direction from Zach; 9. Molly filling the bird's water trough, with a little direction from farmer Hazel and encouragement from the team of little farmers; 10. Clara posing with her new exciting discovery: the door stop! (sometimes it takes a 2 year old to notice the details).

Little Farm Fair 2009

On Sunday we went up to the Little Farm for their 3rd Annual Little Farm Fair. Astute readers might remember that we were at the 1st Little Farm Fair two years ago, with just one kid. The tractor's been fixed up, they didn't provide ear pro, and the girl has grown up just a little (!) but interestingly, the same firefighter (Mike) was there. We didn't get a picture this time. Molly wasn't as interested in the fire truck, partially because her friend Rylyn wasn't that interested. But we did get to hang with Mike the firefighter when Molly got a monstrous splinter in her foot that required me to extract it. Mike cheered us on (and provided stickers, hats, and cool bandaids).

This year we rode the bus up with Rylyn's family. They're threatening to cut that bus line. While that makes me sad, I kind of understand. We've only ridden it twice since we've been going up to the Little Farm, and both times it was pretty empty.

Little Farm Animals

We went to the Little Farm this afternoon. It was very cold. (okay, not "very" cold, but pretty cold for us). But it was nice to get out in the sun. (Note, you can always go to picasaweb.google.com/szander to see a slideshow of all the pictures on tuchus. the latest are in this folder.)

Little Farm walk

And we walked to the lake. Clara was a little more enthusiasic about walking there and a little less excited about sitting in the stroller. But we made it and saw some ducks (where were the turtles?).

Pictures: Molly explains how a drainage ditch works (clearly the daughter of a landscape architect); Clara walking way ahead of Molly & Zach; Molly contemplates the lake; Clara; Clara; Clara teetering on the edge of the lake (she didn't go in, but put up a good fight for the cause); Clara, taking a page from Molly's history, picking rocks.

from the archives - September 2006

From a trip to the Little Farm with Nate & Paz, September 2006. Maybe these were posted before?

Little Farm

Zach, Nona, Molly & Clara went to the Little Farm over the weekend. They enjoyed the views over campus, ran into Molly's buddy Nate, and ate lots of Cheddar Bunnies.