Oxon Hill Farm, Take Two

Oxon Hill Park, located just a few miles from Brian's work, was the setting for another birthday morning for Eli.  We actually came here on his second birthday, and took some of my favorite photos of him and I thought why not run up for the morning on his fourth birthday as well. 

The farm is a nice little oasis near National Harbor and DC proper.  It is a little tricky to find with google maps, so be sure to get good directions if you decide to visit.  This free park lets the kids run around visiting farm animals, milking the cow (10:00 most days), and riding on a hay ride (10:30 most days).  There are some fun activities in the Visitor Barn as well, and picnic tables and bathrooms to make a stay with pre-schoolers manageable. 

Frying Pan Farm Park, Finally

Since it's cold and rainy-ish here this weekend, we're delaying our trip to the flower fields we grew to love last year (see link) and reflecting on some much nicer days we've had this Spring.

One such beautiful day was a recent trip to Frying Pan Farm Park.  This park has been on my radar for quite a while now, as it is always a frequent recommendation by moms in the area.  Like so many of our outings, it is a great agri-tourist activity for when you're trapped in the suburbs like us.  Supposedly, the only working farm left in Fairfax County, Frying Pan Farm Park draws its inspiration from the 1920s-1950s era.  We very much enjoyed visiting the farm, including:

The Tractor Patch:  There were four, kid-sized, kid-safe tractors to climb all over.  Of course Theo had to try out all four.  They would play here for an hour if there weren't other kids waiting for a turn.

Wagon ride ($3 a person, buy tickets in the country store):  This ride circled the farm, with the tour guide making stops to talk about different aspects of the farm.  Theo's hand immediately shot up whenever she asked for questions, and he would think of one (asking about the horse shows, the bull's lack of horns...).  It ran almost half an hour.  Probably shorter if you have less extroverted/curious kids on the ride.

Kidwell Farm:  Where all the animals are, including all the new spring babies.  They've got large pastures so you've got plenty of room to walk.  We didn't have one, but I'd guess the paths were stroller friendly (there are several bathrooms on the property too).

Carousel and playground:  After the drive to get there, the playground let the kids run off some energy right away before hitting up the more educational and interesting aspects of the farm. 

And we didn't even get down to the Visitor Center, so I can't comment on that.  But, we'll probably be back, maybe even for a class as they offer various classes, camps, and other events.

Other Nearby Attractions:  Dulles Airport (perhaps a great last stop before a long flight with kids?) and the Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum (explore indoors a bit and then pair that with the farm outing perhaps) is only 3 miles away.

Cows 'n Corn Fieldtrip (Theo's first fieldtrip)

Knowing we'd be going to a farm for Theo's field trip, we haven't really hit up as many local farms this fall as we might have otherwise.  We were all excited to join Theo's school for a morning on the farm.

Cows 'n Corn is located a county over in Midland, VA.  The farm is open to the public with a large corn maze, ice cream, and lots of play equipment for the kids.  For our field trip, they split us into groups and rotated us through four stations. 

First, we got to go on a hay ride.  Theo was pretty funny correcting a kid who was holding a piece of straw and calling it hay.  He apparently learned this difference between all the farm and fair visits to Indiana.

 Their Holsteins are a bit spoiled-they have an automatic back scratcher (yellow), that was something I've never saw before. 

Next they got to go learn a bit more about a heifer, and pet her, as well as some other farm animals.

The third station was a butter-making demonstration.  The kids all got their chance to shake the cream until it turned to butter, and got a taste.  Theo was the first in line to claim his cracker.

 And the fourth was pumpkin class, which included a story reading by a calf puppet.  Theo has been really into our hand puppets lately, so this was perfect for him. 

 Lastly, there was plenty of equipment to play on throughout the farm, including a rope spider web, crawling tubes, wooden trains, and a huge stack of hay bales.  And, of course, all the kids got a little bit of ice cream.

 Elmo especially enjoyed the field trip (he is going everywhere with us lately).

First Calf of the Season

As winter storm Virgil moved in with lots of winds Sunday, cow 134 gave birth to our first calf of the season.  This sweet little girl was still shaky on her four legs when we got over to see her.  Theo predicted an orange calf, but was still excited to see this "just black" one.

 

D.o.b. March 24, 2013

 Theo helped grandpa and Uncle Matthew pin up mama and baby.  When they brought over an empty water trough to fill for the mama, Theo said "A bath for the baby calf!"  It was pretty cute.  You can tell he's not been raised in a barn like the rest of us were.

Helping with the hose, in his new Seed Consultant cap and barn boots.

Visit to the Farm!

Delaware State Fair

Since we couldn't attend the Huntington fair this year, we made sure to check out the DE state fair. Now. I understand that this is not the Midwest. And I understand that Delaware is a tiny place (3 counties-873,000 people). However, it is hard to not compare this fair to my home county's fair (population 38,000).

It was very weird to see all the 4-H and FFA exhibits in a state other than Indiana. There are completely different projects here, and all the requirements are quite different. There was a quite respectable building full of exhibits in areas such as crafts, cooking, photography, sewing, and other projects. Below is a picture of their photography exhibit. The one thing that bothered me was that there don't seem to be Champions in the divisions (unless I missed them). So the best you can do is a blue ribbon.

One of the exhibits I really like is the "place setting" contest.

When it came to the animals, there were probably quite a bit less than at our county fair. However there was a lot more variety. I couldn't even identify all of the various sheep and poultry breeds, and enjoyed seeing beef breeds I normally don't. Some Belted Galloways were on display, one of my favorite breeds (see picture). I was quite annoyed that of the few rabbits shown, about two dozen of them were crossbreeds, which are typically declared to be unshowable outside of a "pets" class.
Some Numbers for the JUNIOR shows

Beef & Starter Calf shows: DE: 75 Huntington: 175
Rabbits: DE:  85 Huntington:  40
Sheep: DE:  LOTS! 300-400? Huntington: 150
Swine: DE: 200 Huntington: 470
Goats: DE: 175 Huntington: 300

I didn't check the results for the poultry and dairy, but it seemed pretty similar at both fairs.