We went out to Shelburne Farms this afternoon, with the intention of taking Mariam to their famous children's farmyard. This place has been on my radar for years; I started using their fantastic outdoor education curriculum with my students before Mariam was born.
The children's farmyard is amazing. It is beyond hands-on. The animals are clearly well cared for and are very comfortable with their human visitors- even the small and fast moving ones. You should have seen my girl chase chickens! She found one (in the picture above) that she particularly liked and walked around holding it for much of our visit. She did let it go a couple of times and it allowed her to make repeat catches, so I think that it was okay with the attention. Mariam was beyond thrilled with this, of course.
This is what the barn looks like at Shelburne Farms. The barn. Not bad if you ask me.
We all loved this guy. Very friendly and sweet and oh so very soft. There was a little workshop happening near his pen where kids were learning to comb and card wool.
These ladies were pecking the backs of my sandals while we sat outside at a picnic table and ate salads and grilled cheese. Oh, the Shelburne Farms cheese... We had a chance to see them making it there, and to taste some samples, of course. There might be better things. I just can't think of them right now.
Tomorrow, we are going for a farm adventure of a different sort. We're going to pay a visit to the small dairy where we are going to be getting a milk share. We are all pretty excited since we've been wanting to do this for years but cow/milk shares are illegal in California. Vermont just passed an awesome law allowing farmers to sell larger quantities of raw milk and to deliver them. This place kind of rocks.
