A quick visit to the farm - 10.14.15

Last week, Dave was traveling for work so I took Wednesday afternoon off and headed to my friends farm near Kellogg. Julie Van Manen is a CommonGround volunteer! She talks to consumers about how food is grown and raised on her farm. Follow her blog at Farm Life in Black & White. The kids wanted to visit the farm, to see the cows, pigs, and ride in the combine. My parents farm is 2-hours away so I thought the quick 45-minute drive would be good for a quick afternoon trip.

We first rode in the combine and Jacob was driving the combine. The kids had fun teasing him about the Hawks because they are Cyclone fans. But, let's face it...that's all they know. After about two rounds Ryan kept saying, I'm done and I want to go see the cows now. What he doesn't understand is, stopping the combine in the middle of a row isn't that easy. 

The kids and I riding in the combine.

Almost finished with this field.

Caroline looking ever so excited.

Once the kids got out the combine, they thanked Jacob for the ride. I tried to get them to look at the camera, but they were wondering how the heck they were going to get down from there.

After we got back to the yard, the kids couldn't wait to see the cows. That's all they talked about the entire way to the farm.

Checking out the cattle.

After we saw the bigger cattle, we headed to the barn to see the small ones. Ryan especially loved them and said they are little Mommy. They get them when they are a day or two old and feed them milk supplement and protein pellets and feed. Once they are old enough, they are moved to the pen you see in the photo above.

All of the little pens for the cattle.

Caroline wasn't sure what to think.

Once they had see all of the baby cows, we ventured to see the hogs. We didn't go inside the where the pigs were because we didn't want to track any diseases that may have been on our shoes into the barn. The kids didn't quite understand that part, but they will when they get older. Caroline kept asking if they are going to smell. She is such a girly girl.

After seeing the pigs, we went out to the field on the John Deere Gator to see them bailing corn stalks. Caroline loved sitting in the back of the Gator.

Loving riding in the back of the Gator.

After we got back to the yard, I tried to get both of them smiling and looking at the camera. That was a lost cause! We grabbed a quick dinner at the "Station" in town and headed home around 7 pm. Once we got home at 7:40 pm the kids had a quick bath and they were out within minutes!

The best photo I could get of the kids smiling. Ryan was worried his sister was choking him.