Last Day

Thursday was the last day for the 2011 season.  The last day is always bittersweet.   All the staff has been together for 30 days and things have just begun to be really smooth and then it’s over for another year.  Time to pack up the gift shop and clean up all the farm.  The inflatables are let down and stored.  All the hay is cleaned up and fed to the animals.  The corn from the corn boxes is ground for animal feed during the winter.  All the left over food is given to a local charity.  Any left over pumpkins are donated to a good cause or fed to the animals.  It is always a difficult day for me because although I am SO ready for a day off, I will miss all the kids and families who come from so many places to visit us.  I won’t see most of the staff until next summer when it is time for camp.  So if you drive by and think it looks kind of sad, we do to.  The great thing is that in a blink of an eye we will be planning and preparing for 2012.  What can we envision for next year?

Fried Oreos

Yesterday was a fun day at the farm.  Earlier in the week someone called and asked if we had roasted corn and fried Oreos.  I assured them we had roasted corn but I had never heard of a fried Oreo.  So around 2:00 a lady walked into the gift shop and asked for Farmer Cathy.  I walked over to see her.  She told me she had called about the Oreos and that she had brought some with her if we would try frying them.  Hmmmm….ok, might as well give it a shot.  I took the Oreos and headed for the fry shack (otherwise known as the Clux Delux and no I did not name it).  When I walked in with the Oreos, everyone looked at me like you have got to be joking.  I assured them I had every intention of frying them so I proceeded to start dipping them in funnel cake batter.  I threw them in the grease and watched.  It didn’t take but a minute or so and the one side was brown so I flipped them over.  When I pulled them out, they looked like fried squash or something.  I plated them and took them up to the picnic area where my guests were anxiously waiting.  I showed them the Oreos and they suggested we cover them with powdered sugar.  Back down the hill I headed and proceeded to cover them in sugar.  Back up the hill for the test.  They received a full thumbs up from the crowd.  Back down to the fry shack with the next test – a snickers bar.  Hmmm – batter sticks nicely – drop it in the grease, turn, plate, cover in sugar - once again a full thumbs up.  The group wants to know if we are adding this to our menu?  Not this year but let me know what you think – should we start frying Snickers, Oreos and maybe even Twinkies at the farm?

Praise in the Patch

I am so excited about our upcoming event on October 29th.  Praise in the Patch is a great opportunity for youth to come and spend time getting lost in our corn maze (in the dark) and then to see the light with testimony and music.  We will have bonfires to cook your smores and hotdogs plus a great concert at dusk.  The band Caleb will perform at dusk.  They are Caleb and Will Chapman (son’s of Stephen Curtis Chapman).  Their testimony and music will be a perfect ending to a perfect day.  All day on the 29th, we will be featuring Christian bands.  The farm will be open from 9 until 5 for regular visitors.  At 4 we will open the gates for concert goers.  They will have time to enjoy the farm before the concert starts.  Around 6:00 Ryan John’s will play again and then at 7:00 the main event – Caleb!    We are so excited to offer this great venue for youth groups, kids, and families.  Tickets are $10.00 if purchased in advance.  To purchase tickets, go to www.dreamfieldfarms.com and click on the purchase tickets online link.

Farmer Tom says the Funniest Things

The other day I told of one of the many funny things kids have told us.  Well kids aren’t the only ones who say funny things on the farm.  Farmer Tom always has a comeback and usually they are pretty funny.  If you haven’t been following, we have three  “momma” donkeys at the farm - Janet, Janie, and Jenny.   They all moved in for the first year of operations in 2008.  The next year and every year since, Janet has produced her annual offspring in August.  We have enjoyed sharing her babies with all of the kids.  Well, this year was the same, Janet delivered in August – a cute baby girl named Jennifer (JJ for short).  We always name our animals after people we know and this is no exception.  Anyway, Janet was up at the fence eating from a customer’s hand and the customer looks at Farmer Tom and asks when Janet is due?  Farmer Tom never missed a beat and replied “Shhh - you hurt her feelings she’s still nursing,  that’s just baby fat.  Her baby is right beside her-  now you apologize to her.”  The lady who made the comment looked at the donkey and said “Oh, I’m so sorry – I didn’t know.”  Of course every man in the general local fell out laughing.    So be careful at the animal pen, Janet isn’t pregnant – she just is enjoying all the kids feeding her.

Freecycling Again!

As I was leaving the farm today, there were six of the cutest kids hanging out taking photos on our latest freecycle venture.  I am always on the lookout for new ideas and a couple of months ago I saw some old trucks at the entrance of another pumpkin patch.  It was full of pumpkins and looked great.  I decided to look for one for the farm.  I scouted the classifieds and the bulletin board to no avail.  Looking, looking, week in week out.  Finally, I asked my neighbor.   Farmer Tom had reminded me that Pickett’s, like the Ellis Family, never throw away anything.  Anyway, Granny Pickett said she didn’t know if there might be an old truck behind her house but we were welcome to go and look.  So after lunch at the Tin Top (the happening Sunday lunch place) we stopped by the Pickett’s to check out the “trash”.  Well believe it or not, not only did we find an old truck we found two old tractors.  Now these had been in the “bushes” long enough that there were trees growing up amongst them.    So I sweetly asked Tom if he could freecycle them for me.   About a week later, Farmer Tom loaded up a tractor and went off to salvage the old truck and tractors.  I was busy cooking and  I missed the adventure.  Anyway about two hours later we were the proud owners of a junk truck and tractor (proudly named Lewis – after Lewis Pickett)  The truck is a little to rough to be of much use but the tractor is great.  We hauled it to the front of the patch and decorated it with hay and pumpkins.  It has been the site of several photo’s this season.  Today was probably the cutest I have seen as we had the dancing girls on top and the little ones on the wheels.   So check it out when you come.  “Lewis” is now a serviceable photo-op making memories for folks and we are off to look for our next freecycle find!  What’s in your pasture?

Kids say the funniest things -

During the week, we often have 300 plus kids at the farm every day.   Every day brings a new story with a chuckle because kids do say the darndest things.  Every parent knows that if you don’t want it told, don’t tell your kids.  Well the other day, I had one that was probably the funniest that has ever happened at the farm.  The day was fairly uneventful.  A group of 45 or so kindergarteners approached the animal area with their normal excitement.   As we handed out the corn, we told the kids about the different animals that they were about to feed.  We have sheep and goats, donkeys and pigs, cows and chickens – just to name a few.  Most of our animals are named and are great big pets.  Well Eeyore (I know – original Donkey name – right?) was in the pen with Janet his mother (that was original – she reminded me of another Janet from long ago) and one of the children asked innocently enough “Who is the baby’s momma?”  Farmer Tom looks over and points out Janet.  “Oh,” says the five-year old ”well who is the baby’s daddy”.  Ever patient Farmer Tom points out Jake, our male donkey.   “Oh” the five-year old says “are they still together?”   Needless to say – we all have enjoyed sharing this fun story when asked what is the funniest thing a kid has said to us at the farm!

Blessed!

Today was the big day we had been waiting for: the first Saturday of the 2011 season! While the farm is here year round, the pumpkin patch is just here for 31 days!  Amazing to think that you work for six months to be open for such a short time.  So when you have this much work invested in something, you are nervous as to how people will receive your efforts.  Well, today was AWESOME!   We celebrated our military and it was so fun to watch them relax at the farm.  The Fort Benning Dixie Band did an awesome job performing during the day.  I was blown away by their performance.  The other little miracle at the farm today was our staff.  Since we only hire people for a five weeks, we pretty much have an all new staff every year.  Well once again, we have been blessed with some top-notch staff.   Now our training program is quite high-tech – it’s see one, do one, train one and don’t forget your orange shirt.  It’s hard to train someone until the folks arrive.  But God was faithful and all the right people arrived as they do every year.  I already received a ton of complements on brand new staff members.  The non human staff did a pretty good job today also.  The pigs were racing well, the goats and the sheep didn’t get full, and the baby calves bottle fed right on schedule.   Other successes included a solvable corn maze.  This is the first year that I actually wrote questions that people could answer – Yes all in all it was a perfect first day so I will sign off tonight – tired but grateful and blessed.  The season is off to a great start.  Thank you Lord for your faithfulness – my cup runneth over!

Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You!

Growing up I heard many cliches…don’t make that face – it will freeze like that, birds of a feather flock together, don’t bite the hand that feeds you, one bad apple will spoil the whole barrel…so many that we have all heard but since I have started raising different animals, I have found the source of most of these was the family farm.  100 years ago the majority of people were raised on the farm.  Most people knew where their food came from.  They knew that ducks walked in a row (yes, they really do go everywhere in line – amazingly true)  All of these old sayings were founded in truth.  Well, the three baby donkeys at the farm are a perfect example of one of those sayings – don’t bite the hand that feeds you.  At our animal barn we encourage children to pet and feed the animals.  As you can well imagine any biting would mean you were not be invited to the feed party.  Some of the animals are always friendly and nice and others take a little time to warm up.  That was the case with Jacob the donkey.  Jacob is a year old.  Last October, Jacob would let the kids pet him but he was to little to actually eat.  This year Jacob is all grown up but, since it has been 11 months since he has seen this many kids, he really wasn’t sure that he wanted any part of those creatures on the other side of the fence.  The first week of kids, Hector and Eeyore would come up and eat out of the kids hands but Jacob would stand in the back of the area and just watch.  Today Jacob decided he was missing out.  He got up this morning and was the first one to the fence.  Farmer Tom said he was the sweetest donkey in the pen today.  So the next time you hear “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” think about Jacob the donkey – getting fat from obeying this basic law of the farm!

The Squealing Hog!

Once you hear the squeal of a pig, you will never forget it.   We all love to see the kids reactions to the squeal of the pig.  Working at the farm, you get used to hearing pigs squeal a couple of times a day.  When you hear it, you look down and see the pig race.  Well today, around 3:00, I heard an unusual squeal.  It was pretty loud.  I knew all our guests had left the farm so I thought I better check it out.  I walked down towards the animal area when I figured it out.  Hector, our spoiled baby donkey, was eating corn.  The two retired racing pigs were standing about ten feet away wanting to share.  Well Hector would take a bite and then look over at them from the corner of his eye as if to say don’t even try it!  If Porkie or Bess dared to take a step, Hector would stomp his back leg.  So the pigs did what every one year old (which is what they are) would do.  They stood and squealed at the top of their lungs.  Hector would take a bite and the pigs would squeal.  He would take another bite and they would squeal again.  This went on for a good ten minutes.  Hector finally relented and let the pigs have a bite.  Now you can look at the pigs and see that they have not missed a meal lately so obviously they are sneaking a bite every now and then but Hector has replaced Jake as King of the Barnyard.  When you come to the farm, make sure you stop by and meet the new King.

The Flying Goats

 If you have never been around goats, you don’t know that they love to climb.  A goat will climb anything.   They climb on hay bales, freezers, cars, buildings, trees, and you – pretty much if anything is still for more than just a minute, they will try to climb it.  Tom being the type of person that he is – he wants every animal to be happy, decided that the goats needed a tower to climb.   His first attempt included two six foot bales of hay with a piece of McDonalds playground equipment on top.  It looked like a giant spaceship.  The only problem came when the goats decided to eat the tower.  We soon had the leaning tower of dreams right on our farm.   Next an old power pole goes in the ground and a spiral staircase is added along with a platform at the top.  From my perch on the porch, it looks fabulous.  I saw Marigold and Petunia enjoying the perch.  Looks great but wait – that’s not a goat – what’s Andrew (my 21-year-old) doing at the top of the goat tower – hey dude – you’re not a goat.  Curiosity get’s the best of me so I wander down to check this out.  Apparently the goats will go up the staircase but they won’t climb down – they jump.  The first one to make the leap from ten feet up flies down and amazingly lands on his feet – unharmed but quite a distance from the tower.   The next one looks down the staircase and down at the ground and says – no way!  So Andrew climbs up to coax him down.  Well that wasn’t an easy task.  After quite a bit of goat speak (I think he ended up bribing him) Petunia starts down the stairwell.  About half way down – she makes her leap.   Lucky for us, goats are like cats, they do land on their feet.  So no harm no fowl (that’s farm speak) but back to the drawing board with the tower.  Yesterday the perfect tower is completed.  It has a second platform along with an added ramp for easy exit.  Amazingly the goats are still flying.  Two or three will be on the ramp and they start butting as only goats can do and one or two will end up flying.  So come see the tower, but stand back because although goats can fly, they don’t have the landing thing down real well yet!