A Trip to Maple View Farm

On Tuesday we went a field trip to Maple View Farm with our church's homeschool group. We all enjoyed it, and it was very educational. Unfortunately it rained almost all day, but we were able to work around it.

Waiting for the first class to begin...

 The first class was on the pumpkin and was quite interesting! The lady explained the whole pumpkin-growing process, and different parts of the pumpkin, and all that. I never knew there were so many different colors of pumpkins! I mean, when I think of pumpkins, I think orange! But no, there are white pumpkins, blue pumpkins (though it looks more green), red pumpkins, and, new just this year, pink pumpkins!

Then, since the rain had mostly stopped for the time being, we went outside to see their little "petting zoo." 

they had a Jersey cow named Maple...

and a lama, whose name escapes me...

Bethany petting the miniature horse... they also had chickens, goats, a donkey and a calf.

Next, we had another class, this one on the dairy bottling process. She also told us about the cows themselves, what they ate, how much milk they gave, and so forth, and about bottling the milk and making ice cream.

Showing the "old" ice cream makers... though I remember using one of those!!

 We were afraid that the rain would prohibit our hay ride, but they had a covered hay wagon, so we were able to go after all. They drove us around the farm and told us about the different cows in each pasture, showed us the trench silos, and other things about the farm.

Amber, Me, and Megan

Lauren, Leah, Bethany, and Elaina

a trench silo, which they fill with silage

More cows...

the milking parlor, with a total of 12 milkers (can you tell it's raining?)

Afterward we the ice cream shop where they make their own ice cream. It was a little expensive, but they had so many flavors!! I got Carolina Crunch, which had several different kinds of candy bars in it. And it was so good!!