Field Trip

Just when I thought I finally had something halfway meaningful to blog about this week, I read the Weekly State Department Blog RoundUp and realized that Mama Puffin (another FS blogger) had beat me to the draw and already blogged about my thing. Dang!

I almost gave up on blogging today but on second thought decided to go ahead and do it because it was my experience and it was different. So here it is, in its all its glory,  the blog post in which I tell you about going on a field trip to Hard Bargain Farm. Since I didn’t grow up in the US, I had never been on a elementary school field trip (though I have been on a US farm before),  so it was an interesting experience for me in that sense.

My daughter had been very excited about the field trip. She was talking about it for days and really wanted me to go with her class. With the FSOT only a couple of weeks away, I needed to stay home and study but it seemed quite important to Nia, so off I went. Unfortunately, there was no room on the bus, so I had to drive there. The farm is about an hour from where we live on the opposite (Maryland) side of the Potomac river from Mount Vernon.

I was not looking forward to driving there by myself because I had never been in that area and I guess I am just a scaredy driver. But I braved it and I made it there safely (mostly) after taking, oh, a few wrong turns. Thanks to my best friend Clara (my phone’s GPS), I found my way and got there just as Nia’s class was getting off the bus.

The field trip was pretty awesome. The weather was a little overcast, which was just perfect because it wasn’t too hot. Our guide was farmer Sharon, who was extremely nice and approachable. She told the kids about all the things that come from farms – various kinds of meat, milk, eggs, wool, cotton, etc. The kids were thrilled, especially when she talked to them about cotton. If they wore jeans, they were wearing cotton (cause cotton is the “jean plant”) and if they wore underwear, they were wearing cotton or they had “plants in their pants.” The kids liked that. Farmer Sharon warned the kids about cow pies and the kids were careful not to step in them. She showed the kids how the cow pies fertilize the pasture and the kids got a kick out of seeing how well the grass grew where there had been cow pies.

We saw all kinds of animals: sheep, cows, goats, a donkey, a turkey, a pig, chickens and rabbits. The kids helped the farmer gather eggs and then went on a hay ride and a short board walk by the Potomac, where we saw some gar fish, a crane and a water snake. All in all it was a terrific day and here are the pictures to prove it.

Farmer Sharon asking the kids why farms are important.

Petting a freshly shorn sheep, meat chickens,  milk cows.

A donkey, a pig and an egg chicken.

 

A goat, a turkey, a flower and a crane.

Hay ride, a barn swallow and a water snake.