Memories Made

A family of five visited us from the suburbs of Indiana and we gave them a Day on the Farm. They enjoyed the Great White Pyrenees dog, two creeks at Twin Brook Camillus Farm, and the freedom to run and to roam in fresh air. They chased the cows until Farmer Craig explained they should walk quietly up to the beef cattle.

We gave them a hay ride around the perimeter of the long rectangular-shaped farm, which they remarked was huge when it was only 47 acres. The capable John Deere tractor and Farmer-Craig driver climbed hills pulling a wagon with bales of straw and five excited children with their parents and their Aunt Elaine. We climbed 777 feet high to see the sheep.

They picked Black Raspberries and pulled 100 plants of garlic and gathered ~60 eggs. If they broke any eggs, Ghenghis Khan was happy as he licked them up.

They learned that nothing goes to waste on a sustainable farm. All the house garbage--the chicken bones, the beef scraps, the watermelon rinds, and the egg shells all went into a bucket in the kitchen to be carried to the chicken pen area.

They commented on the flavorful chicken, the delicious steak, and the wonderful pastured eggs that we had for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Elijah asked, "Do you always eat food like this?" He said he wants to be a farmer to raise his own food, to be home with family, and to enjoy life. He's young, but this is the desire now of many growing up in a suburban lifestyle.

They all got to hold a week-old lamb, stroking its soft young wool while its mother bleated nearby. They watched Farmer Craig give them drinking water and alfalfa cubes. The two boys helped set up flexible movable fence for the following day's moving the sheep to greener pastures.