…well it’s awesome!
A couple of weeks ago we had some visitors to Blakesley Creek Farm; thirty-one 1st graders from Philomath Elementary School and a hand full of parents. Now there are three rules on Blakesley Creek Farm when it comes to visitors: 1. Don’t chase the animals. 2. Stay with an adult. and 3…well now I can’t remember #3. I’ll get back to that.
First we visited the sheep and the kids got to feed them by hand. It tickles.
Rule #1…
Then we walked across the dirt road to look at the horses. Later on the class split up into small groups and some of the kids got a closer look at them.
Next, hand washing and lunch. …the best part of the day. 🙂 We sat in front of the house, with small groups of kids and parents at the picnic table, sitting bench, and an “at capacity” group on the hammock. The strings eventually snapped on one side, gently plopping them to the ground. The dogs took particular interest in low-to-the-ground sandwiches, but were for the most part well-behaved.
Waiting to wash their hands!
Oops! One of our pooches got a bite of his sandwich…
After lunch we walked down to the chicken coop. This is where rule #1 is most important as chickens… and especially peacocks don’t like to be chased. The kids were very excited by all the fast-moving birds and only a minimal amount of chasing occurred. Two of the peacocks got out and quickly flew up into the trees. The kids picked up loose feathers and fed the chickens carrot and apple pieces along with their feed. Our chicks and baby turkeys were still quite small, even though now most of the turkeys are gone due to hungry rats and a couple drownings. 😦
From the coop we walked back up the drive way to the rabbit hut. We brought out the biggest fluffiest bunny for the kids to see, pet, and attempt to feed. The rabbits like the hut to stay quiet so we didn’t stay for long before moving on to the barn where a touching table full of different fibers awaited them.
Now THAT… is a super fluffy bunny!
Some of our Wensleydale fiber.
There was a lot of different things to touch.
When we were finished talking about all the different kinds of animal hair the 1st graders broke up into small groups for mini tours of rest of the farm. The pond, horses, llamas, and chicken coop were all visited.
So… that’s what we do with thirty-one 1st graders on our farm. Blakesley Creek Farm is working to eventually develop a farm stay aspect the property. We really enjoy having visitors. 🙂 If you’d like to see the rest of the pictures taken that day click over to our facebook page here.
Blakesley Creek Farm 