The Other White Meat

This week we went and visited the Slate Run Historical Farm. Originally it was supposed to be a picnic with our home school co -op but we arrived late and never did see any familiar faces. So, we decided to make the best of it and at least take a break from being in the HOT non-air conditioned van and stretch our legs.

First we visited the horses in the barns. After petting the friendly horses everyone is requesting a horse for their birthday :) DREAM ON !

Then we visited the pigs. The kids kept filling buckets of water up and flinging them into pig pen to cool the pigs off. Which was entertaining & STINKY for awhile. Then after Vania had literally threw 2 buckets with the water into the pig pens.The first I was able to recover by scaling the pig pen and reaching down to the pick it up hoping the big pig would keep his distance. After the second bucket landed in a pig pen we decided to move on.

The coolest animal we got to see was a bull calf who was only 5 days old. He was curled up in the back of the pen and as calm as could be. One of the workers flung open the gate and asked if the kids would like to go in a and pet him. Of course they jumped at the chance !" Don't get too attached "said the farmer. "Why ?" asked the kids. " Because, eventually he will be ground beef " he said. At this point i was glad we were not vegetarians. We had had this discussion before with the kids because we do have some vegetarians in the family so they didn't freak out at his comment. But I'm also not sure if it was really necessary to remind little kids of the fate of the cute little calf they were petting.

As we were leaving I noticed what appeared to be wool from a sheep hanging over the edge of a table. " Look, there's wool from the sheep we just saw earlier " I said to the kids. "NO, that's not wool " said the farmer. "That's the skin from the sheep we just ate the other night ." Again, really Farmer Joe !?

Anyway, I'm glad we got to do & see some new things even though the picnic didn't work out. Better luck next week :)