Farm Tour 2010

Wow!  I knew it had been a while since I last posted, but it wasn't until I logged in and saw the July date of my last entry that I understood the depths of my house project detox.  Not that we haven't been busy with other things, but I feel the transition taking place...the slowing down.  It feels nice.  We still haven't started construction on our future home, which is a bit frustrating, but I know it will happen all in good time, give or take a few months.  In the meantime, I'm trying to make up for lost leisure time.

This weekend was the Kaw Valley Farm Tour; something I look forward to all year long.  It's a bit like Christmas in October for me.  It's when we stock up on pumpkins and gourds, perhaps some mums, and marvel in the changing of the season.  The morning was perfect; sunny skies and a crisp Autumn breeze.  We always begin the tour at our favorite farm, Pendleton's.  We jumped on the tractor-pulled hay rack which delivered us first to the butterfly bio-villa where we searched for caterpillars and identified several types of butterflies.  Then the kids dove into the corn pit, where we thought we'd never get them out again. (I was still finding kernels this morning.)  Then we hopped back on the wagon and ventured out into the pumpkin patch.

Pumpkin patches are magical places.

We traipsed around the vines, and occasionally I would hear Anna shout out, "MOM....I...found...a...good...one!"  Finally she settled on a fine specimen, perfect for carving into a jack-o-lantern, and a small pie pumpkin she tells me she wants to keep in her bedroom.  Back at the barn, we picked out funky looking gourds for decorating the house and an acorn squash to take home and roast.  It was too windy, so they couldn't keep the machine lit to make funnel cakes (darn it!), but we still had a lunch of hot dogs and bbq sandwiches outside.

Next we went down the road a short distance to a small apple orchard where the kids picked apples and sampled cider pressed on site.

Nearby was a vineyard - less exciting to the kids, but gorgeous under the blue skies.  Anna was running through the vines, cutting between aisles, looking for Aunt Wendy.  I got a little terse because I was afraid I would lose her!

Then it was on to the last stop of the day, Henry's Plant Farm.  We entered next to a pond graced by a beautiful weeping willow.

The first thing we saw as we parked the car was a peacock.  The females were fenced in a pen with other fowl, but the showy males were free-range.

We took a wagon ride around the fields where we sighted a pony, alpacas, and sheep.

Then we wandered around to pet the donkeys, and see horses, a goat, and Alphie the pig, who was larger than the donkeys!  The kids finished the day with a straw bale maze, beanbag toss, and ANOTHER corn bin. By then, our shadows were getting longer and it was time to head home.  We marked another wonderful year.

I'll be dreaming of pumpkins tonight.