Autumn is here in all her golden glory! But you can’t fully appreciate the beauty of the season without venturing into the great outdoors!
We did just that with a little trip to Slow Poke Farm, a local spot with lots of charm and plenty of opportunity for autumn fun with our homeschool group. The kids took turns trying the “Pumpkin Roll,” which was a contest of, (get ready for this now,) rolling pumpkins down a hillside…
Afterwards we wandered about the pumpkin patch in search of just the right pumpkins. It was a little too easy to lose sight of Peanut out there…
There was a hay maze, too. But, of course, why walk through the maze when you can run on top of it?
After we ate lunch, we got a little tutorial on shelling dried corn with an old hand-cranked sheller…
And each of the kids got to try their hand at it.
Afterwards they shared their corn with some chickens. Or tried to share. I think the chickens had had quite enough of schoolchildren for one morning…
Then we headed off on a hayride. And, fortunately, this was one of those rare times Dad got to come along on a field trip.
We stopped to feed the cows some bread. This is Peanut after being assaulted by a cow tongue. Sadly, I missed the moment with my camera, but I’m pretty sure he felt a lot like a Tootsie Roll Pop.
Eventually we coaxed him into trying again. Reluctantly…
Maybe he thought a cow could lick his arm off.
But eventually he warmed up to the idea.
We strolled through the corn maze, too, and found it wasn’t as much of a challenge as in years past. The drought this year made for stalks so short I could see over most of them, and not because I’m so tall, believe me!
We gazed out over some beautiful countryside.
And Mr. Bleemel shared lots of information about the farm and some of their crops, including soybeans, which he allowed the kids to taste-test. (Incidentally, none of my children are ready to add soybeans to their regular diets.)
Had to include a pic of Little Man on his “Pretty Pink Tractor.”
When we got home, the kids were anxious to add their pumpkins to the fall decorations on the porch. They insisted on doing the arrangement themselves and were quite satisfied with the results when they had finished.
And so was I!
“For every leaf, that twirls the breeze,
May useful hints and lessons give;
The falling leaves and fading trees
Will teach and caution us to live.”
May useful hints and lessons give;
The falling leaves and fading trees
Will teach and caution us to live.”
— from “Autumn” by John Clare
Looks like a perfect day =) We are playing 'Pumpkin Roll' on Sat. at our church fall party.