Our Visit to Hawthorne Valley Farm

At Hawthorne Valley we saw Brown Swiss cows with horns. They use the cows for milk. They use the cows milk to make cheese and yogurt. They also bottle their milk raw. We went into the room where they keep the aging cheese. Some people said that the cheese that we saw that was aging didn't smell good. We all liked it (the farm) very much.

Cowgirl and Chickengirls (The 2 Emilies)

Blackberry Hill Farm

1. At BlackBerry Hill Farm we saw Llamas,Alpackas,Sheep,Goats,Horses,Bunnies, Rosters,Chickens. We learned that they use the hair and the wool for yarn.We fed Llamas.The brown Llama was guarding the sheep.There was 4 horses one had a fly mask the other 3 were called triplets.After they showed us the farm we did an activity the activity was that we wove pouches with yarn.Some of the yarn was from the animals.When we were done with the pouches we had snacks we had watermelon,grapes,sunchips,and nacho chips.We had lots of fun there

Katelyn and Megan.

Watch Our Progress!

Emily and Nicole are building their own blogs. Watch their progress at:

http://emilys4hfarm.blogspot.com/

and

http://nicoles4hfarm.blogspot.com/

Our Trip to Grazin Angus Acres

We went to a chicken and a grass fed beef farm. We saw a lot of angus beef cows. We also saw some meat chickens and egg chickens. We had lots of fun. Emily Starks Mom gave the tour. They fill a big tank from a well to water the cows. The cows know where to find it. They had a special way of giving the cows minerals and vitamins. It was a big huge dish with a lid that the cows knew how to open.

For the meat chickens, every morning they pick up the cages and move them to a new area of grass. The chickens inside know to move with the cage. For the egg chickens, they use a tractor to move their house first thing in the morning.

Emily gave a tour of the chute room. This is where they can work with the beef cows. There are fences that lead them into a chute where they can be held still. There they get shots and medicine.

By 2 Emilys (cowgirl and chickengirl), Nicole, and Katelyn

Introducing Emily & Nicole

Nicole lives on dairy farm in Claverack. She is 9 years old and is a member of the Country Kids 4-H Club. Emily lives on a angus farm in Ghent. She is 8 years old and is a member of the Columbia Country Feeders 4-H Club.

Emily is having a really fun time going to the farms we are visiting. Her favorite farm so far is her family's farm. Nicole's favorite animal she has seen so far is the angus cattle. The other people in our group are another Emily that we call "cowgirl," Megan, and 2 Hunters: 4-H Hunter and Wildlife Hunter.

Some of the fun things we have done are playing bingo (Emily got bingo!), use animal stamps to make decisions, and played a game about all the jobs that farmers have. Some of the jobs were fixing fences, giving the animals medicine, keeping track of money, making food for the animals, and driving tractors.

We have to leave for lunch now but we'll write more soon.

A New Adventure!

Our latest and greatest adventure is "Fridays on the Farm." For four Fridays, I will be traveling with 6 elementary schoolers to various farms around our county. The mission is: to get information for designing their own virtual farm. Armed with digital cameras, these fearless 4-H members will be scouring pastures, searching dimly lit barns, and traversing open fields to find out what farming is really like!

Soon you will be seeing reports from at least one of the group and pictures from all. For their final project, each member will be "telling the story" of their farm. We will share those stories as soon as they are available!

Making the Best Better!
Kelly

Fridays on the Farm

Coming soon. . . .