At the Farm

WHAT? you say! Yes, a 2nd post in under a month. Well, it is the end of the school year and there are definitely things to document. Kudos to me for taking my camera- and even more for taking pictures.
NG's preschool class went to the farm. This is not an unusual outing for a preschool class, but it so happens that NG has always been afraid of anything that moves that isn't human. It can be big, small, gentle or not - it doesn't matter, she is scared of them. You can talk until you are blue in the face about how gentle little Rover or Fluffy is and how much they love people - especially little children - it doesn't matter. She never had any kind of experience that soured her to the animal kingdom. She loves stuffed animals, going to the fair and visits to the pet store. As long as said creature is contained or on a leash she is ok with them. Even leashed animals are something to be wary of, but that is better than being free. We have several friends who have a dog or cat - even guinea pigs, and they have all been so gracious to put their furry family member away in a room, or on a leash in the house, just so NG can come over to play. She always comes up with "Mom, I'm not scared of MoMo any more" "I like E's cat Mustache now." But when reality hits, she is more skittish than a little white mouse around a cat.
Well, the day at the farm was a fun day and guess what! NG actually reached out and petted a donkey, goat and 3-day old lamb!!!! No coaxing or even helping - she did it on her own! This is momentous.
Also, this farm is not just your Gentleman Farmer's farm. It is what is left of the current owner's grandparents homestead - which just a generation ago was 1400 acres. When the grandparents died, their children sold off all but 350 acres and this family is still living there. They do raise cattle, sheep and goats for selling off. It was so generous of them to open their property up for our class to visit.

This goat tried to climb through
the fence to get some attention

Here is the donkey - NG is in the black jacket
almost center

Proof - she is petting the goat.

This lamb was 3 days old

Running across the field to the next activity

 Thanks to Rancher Glen and is wife Trisha (I think that were their names) for letting us come. After checking out the barns and livestock, they took a "walk" across this field. On the other side was a little picnic area where we ate lunch and the farmer provided makings for s'mores. We then gathered specimens from the forest - aka: pinecones and lichen. Then we headed to the creek (pronounced crick in these parts), to collect what specimens we could find in the water. It was a wonderful day and NG fell asleep on the way home, as I am sure most of the children did.

I didn't get my camera going fast enough - the rancher took that bucket through the gate. All the sheep were on the other side of the pasture. As soon as he opened the gate - they all started running towards him with no thought but who would get there first. The lamb he picked up at the end was just 3-days old.