i joked with a homeschool mom friend that we don't think we're antisocial, but sometimes it seems that way. sometimes we dig into what we're doing and with five students and a business we're building, we have to sort of bury our heads and skip some of the awesome opportunities out there for homeschoolers in our area. not so this friday... we piled in the truck and headed out to the dairy farm... watched mass milking and saw a calf come into the world. the fellowship with other mommas in our stage of life is sweet, and watching our kids cavort through the haystacks made even the most "citified" of us long for the simpler life. on the way home we had sweet dreamy talks of buying land with other believing families and joining forces to care for our food and critters. my friend faith quite rightly reminded me that Papa has always held landowning in high esteem, and it really had me meditating again about the direction our world is going... and desiring to "hunker down" and make our own way. anyway, we're where we are, and it's no surprise to my Jesus... while we're here we'll enjoy every little taste of simplicity we can!
yup, it's a pig race, y'all.
the curious little brothers.
beautiful tay.
mommas and babies in slings make me sigh with happiness.
sweet cow eyes - i've always thought they're the most beaufiful - maybe second only to giraffe eyes.
the boys feed a greedy (and rather impolite) young bull.
got milk?
on the way home, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit a quaint little vineyard called rosa fiorelli family vineyard. the owner, a precious italian man running the business with his wife, turned around on the way out to the post office when he saw us coming, so he could offer us a tour.
the kids (and their mommas) enjoyed his loving explanation of the way the grapes are grown and grafted to create new varieties. we learned that while the wine is being aged, you must allow the natural gases to escape or the wine vats become like a bomb (that's just like a BOY!)... but the winemaker must use a system like a water valve to prevent air from tainting the wine. it's an art form and it was really cool to study it, especially as we're in a botany unit right now. we also learned that the winemakers are just now seeing the depth of the damage from the hurricane season several years ago, and it is amazing the effect on small business even in the more central parts of the state. it is such a neat opportunity to meet "salt of the earth" landowners who pour all they have and all they are into producing something of which they can be proud.
little boy blue didn't seem to care if the grapes were ripe or not. after he called out "pea, pea, pea!!!" we finally figured out he thought they were his beloved sugar snap peas. we got the camera ready for his shocked expression, but he just chomped away. eek!
the corker. at this winery, each bottle is filled, corked, and sealed by hand.
it was an awesome day, and we're spoiled rotten to be able to learn in truly hands-on situations.
4 comments:
trinity was just saying she wants to milk a cow because she hasn't yet-we'll have o find a farm for her to give it a go! looks like great fun!
Very cool. I thought that was our old Ruby the pig out in front of the pack! (pig race). Fun!!!!
I'd love to tour a winery. We could give it a go with our grapevines...I've always wanted to try it! Pig race? hmmmmm interesting.
That's a great field trip day. and what a great big group of kids! Blessings for sure!
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