Friday, October 10, 2014

Peden Farm's Children's Farm Festival

The Peden family, one of our oldest local farming families, proved again that they are endowed with unsurpassable bravery and stamina--seriously, would YOU invite hundreds of small children onto your property, let them play with your animals and trample your grass, spend two days listening to their noise?

This is my children's favorite field trip of the entire year (in case you're curious, I bring my nookstocked with library books!). Here they are at Peden Farm three years ago:



And here they are last week!
The leaf rubbing is Will's favorite station. She makes a complete set every year.

Syd asked the docent if deer walked on their tiptoes like this leg suggests, and got a lesson on tendons!

I chatted with an entomologist about humane euthanasia of insects (freezer, then killing jar) and got some recommended reading!
That guy dresses exactly like my Pappaw. Exactly. Just substitute a Dixie Cup ball cap.



Don't worry--that poor child has several pairs of pants that fit her now.
They put the big electrician's gloves on the kids and then challenge them to pick up a dime.



pneumatic limestone carving
Will says that she'll stick to hand carving, thank you very much!
One of the interesting things about this festival is that although all children are invited, other than homeschoolers, only the younger grades of schoolchildren and preschoolers generally attend. And yet every year that my kids have attended since they, themselves, were preschoolers, they've remained enthralled by the same exhibits, while bring to each a larger context and coming away with a greater understanding:

This year, the kids were able to solve the nail puzzle.
This year, Will has experience with hand-carving limestone to contrast with pneumatic carving.
This year, a docent on the hayride pointed out to us a cave and former limestone quarry on the property.
This year, we learned how much a round bale of hay weighs (approximately 1,200 pounds!).
This year, Syd didn't just play with the water pump, but asked how it worked--and got an explanation!

Next year, the swarm of other children gathered with mine around each exhibit will likely be even shorter compared to them, but I still don't think that I'll have to worry about my kids being bored, or finding the programming babyish. I'm lucky to have kids who can soak in experiences, all kinds of experiences, and wonder at them, and be enthralled by them, and take something new from them every single time.

6 comments:

Tina said...

That sounds like such an awesome experience! That is one nice thing about living in the same location for more than a few years :0)

julie said...

Speaking of location... you've moved by now, yes? Is it great? Is it roomy? Do you love it?

Tina said...

We are still juggling the two places, but turn the keys in at the old place on Wednesday. We started sleeping here on Saturday, so tomorrow makes a week. So far, we love it. We all pretty much congregate in the kitchen which makes me think that our forever house will need to have an open space floor plan where the kitchen opens into the main living area. Or the kitchen is the main living area.

And yes, very, very roomy. We have two entire rooms that probably won't get used very much, but that's ok. The more places we live in before the hubby retires, the better ideas I will have on what is comfortable for us to live in.

Here is a blog post from earlier this week.

http://jetisteffen.blogspot.com/2014/10/weve-moved-again.html

I really hope to have most everything in the library and kitchen situated by the 20th so that I'm not super stressed when my classes start back up. If not, oh well. The kitchen seems to work just fine :0)

Unknown said...

This was our first year visiting Peden Farm's. I was completely impressed. You are right; I can see how they can really internalize the process of the extensive exhibits after several exposers to the experience
. It is more than petting the farm animals, the hay ride, and tasting apple butter. We will definitely go next year. Several times, since our visit, they have mentioned how that was the best day of their life...lol

julie said...

I thought I saw you there! At least, I looked over once and saw Will and Izzy together, so I figured you must be nearby.

Rachel Peden McCarty said...

Thank you for your post. Hope you made it this year too.