Down on the Farm . . . .

Aidan's class recently went on a field trip to the Spring Hill Farms in Petaluma. The farm is home to about 400 Jersey cows that provide milk for their Spring Hill Cheese Company. They have expanded their site to provide more of a farm atmosphere for the public and groups.

When the children arrived, they each received a Spring Hill Farms sticker. While waiting for the tour to begin, they climbed the hay pyramid.

They all had a chance to milk a cow, but Aidan wouldn't have anything to do with it. :-) After milking a cow, they all loaded up in the back of a tractor with a wagon bed attached, and headed out to the potato field.

Here is Aidan with one of his classmates (above) and another with his friend Hannah and his teacher Mrs. Carder (below).

There were a variety of potatoes that the kids could dig for: red potatoes, Yukon gold, and purple potatoes (not sure of the name). All the adults grabbed a pitchfork and dug potatoes while the children selected 5 potatoes each. Aidan chose red potatoes.

After digging for potatoes we all walked across to the pumpkin patch. After walking all over, Aidan finally picked a very nice pumpkin.

The pumpkins were beautiful throughout the field.

After selecting their pumpkins, the children got a ride back closer to the farm. Close to the hay pyramid is a variety of squash and pumpkins for purchase. They also have available their delicious cheeses available to sample and purhcase. This cute little sign shows just some of the things available at the farm.

Group picture! We had a good turnout of parents to drive and chaperone our field trip.

There were a couple of photo ops there on the farm! :-) Scarecrow Aidan . . .

And Scarecrow Mom . . .

All the children had the opportunity to "drive" the tractor . . .

My little country boy . . . :-).

One of the highlights for the children was the hay maze . . . Here Aidan is inside the maze with a classmate.

Aidan's friend, Hannah, is inside the maze with some other classmates. For the adults, it was nice being tall enough to see our way out.

They also had a baby animal area at the farm. They had the cutest little piggies!

And some Jersey calves . . .

Some Scottish Highland Beef Cows (although this one has horns) . . . .

Some miniature donkeys. . . .

And my favorite, the sheep!

This little one was just so cute!

Another photo opportunity!!

Photo credits: The photo of the farm at the top of the page was taken from the Spring Hill Cheese Company website at http://www.springhillcheese.com/index.html.