Punkin' Pickin'

Hey- homeschoolers have field trips too! So last week, for one of our fall harvest lessons, we took a trip to Hickory Nut Gap Farm. It's a great family owned farm that specializes in 100% grassfed beef, among other things. (After just watching Food, Inc. as part of our lessons, it was great to see sustainable agriculture in action!)

The mountains make everything fall even more beautiful. Here is a view of the fall colors from the farm:

As part of our tour, the boys pondered the logistics of beekeeping and honey-making:

We learned about cage-free chickens, and the chicken life cycle...

(Maybe this will be further inspiration for our own chicken-raising efforts next year. Liam was afraid to touch the chickens at first, but I think by the time we left he was holding his own!)

















You can't have fun on a farm without a tire swing, right? (Especially a really big tire swing.)

The boys made friends with a particularly friendly pony, and Gavin reminded me (again) that we need our very own horse.

The day wouldn't have been complete without completing our primary quest: a trip to the pumpkin patch for our Halloween pumpkins. It was good to remind the boys that pumpkins come from the ground, not a factory, and someone has to pick those heavy suckers up and lug them somewhere (in this case, mom and dad, whew.)

Because this is a natural, pesticide-free field, Liam got his first exposure to "those little pricker thingies" (burrs) that kept wanting to hitch a ride all over him. This was a great opportunity to talk about natural adaptations to survive. Why are those little seeds so sticky? Hmm...
















And finally, some farm silliness!